Blood Kiss

Blood Kiss: 4. Bell Tower

The rest of the school day quickly passed. Ian told me goodbye and to dress warmly for our little outing later on. I was tense all evening. I told everyone goodnight a bit earlier than normal. I shouldn’t have been surprised when Jared knocked on my bedroom door not ten minutes after I arrived there.

“Hey, what’s up? You seem nervous,” Jared’s concern was obvious in his tone.

“Nothing’s wrong,” I hate lying, and try never to do so, but, “I have plans to meet with Ian tomorrow. I’m stressing a little on the logistics of it.” The truth can be just as effective. No way am I telling him about tonight.

“Oh, well, stop it. Your stressing gives me gray hairs,” he said lightly while pointing to his head.

I choked out a laugh, “Think you’ll be as gray as dad by the time you’re twenty?”

“Careful, that’s only two years from now.” Jared smiled tenderly. “Why don’t you get to bed? I’ll see you in the morning.” I nodded before he turned and left.

Once alone I changed into a deep purple tank and a sheer black and gray stripped long sleeve shirt. I put my dark gray cargo pants on, put my black boots next to my bed, and set my black jacket on my desk chair before crawling under my covers in bed. Laying there for an hour really took a toll on my nerves. What does Ian have planned for tonight? What will he expect from me? What if he wants more than I’m willing to give? Will ‘no’ be enough? Of course it will. He’s a perfect gentleman. Serious old school. Times ten. What happens if I’m the one that can’t stop? Finally the clock hit ten ‘til ten. Time for stealth mode. Man, am I a nerd!

Slowly and as silently as I could, I got out of bed, pulled my shoes on, and grabbed my jacket before cracking open my bedroom door.

CREAK.

 Suck! After listening for a second determining it was all clear I headed down the hall and stairs, and crept to the front door. No wonder I never do this sort of thing. I’m going to have a ruptured ulcer before I even get out of the house. Forget about sneaking back in. Ug. My stomach churned. Deep breath. Almost there.

I unlocked the door, opened it without much sound and stepped out into freedom. After locking up I slipped my keys through my belt, and headed down the front porch to the sidewalk. Breathing a sigh of relief I looked around to see Ian standing at the corner of the street just two houses down.

“Hi,” I whispered looking up at him once I got close enough. When I could see the blue of his eyes all my worries went away. I felt all my muscles relax. Funny, I didn’t realize how tense I was.

“Hello, sweet angel of the night,” Ian said softly. “Come.”  Ian held his hand out to me, and I was placing my hand into his before my actions caught up with my thoughts. Pulling me into the cradle of his body, Ian put one arm around my waist, and softly stroked my check with his other hand. “Close your eyes.”

The request confused me a little bit, but I complied. As soon as I did I felt like I stepped into a tilt-a-whirl with my guts being pulled in all different directions. Luckily, it only lasted for a couple of seconds. When it stopped I gasped.

“What…?” I started.

Ian interrupted, “It’s okay to open your eyes now.” Doing so revealed that I wasn’t standing on a street corner three doors down from my house any longer. Looking around I realized we were at the town library.

“How? Why? What?” I couldn’t seem to get complete sentences out.

Ian grinned. “I flashed us here. Think of it as a type of teleportation. Most vampires have the skill… with the exception of newbies that is.”