The Last Corvus (completed)

Ch. 18 Isadora

Chapter 18

Isadora

He shows up twenty minutes early, quietly tapping on the door to make sure I'm not asleep. Opening the door, I find him standing there in a purple and white polo and dark jeans. His hair still glistens from a shower, the ends of his curls drip little circles onto the front of his shirt. His cheeks are freshly shaven and my fingers practically ache to touch them.

We exchange pleasantries and then he pulls a small black velvet bag from his back pocket and hands it to me. Carefully untying the drawstring, curious, I turn it over and watch as a necklace falls into my palm.

It's beautiful.

It's a circle, maybe an inch and a half wide, pure gold. On one side it's smooth, cool metal, and on the other it has an intricate swirling starburst design. The curling rays are made out of minuscule shards of raw-cut citrine, the center a smooth, dark blood-red garnet slightly smaller than a pencil eraser.

Its cord is a length of thick, narrow, black leather, just about the right length to fit around my neck snugly. I'm desperate to put it on. It's perfect; the dazzling beauty of my two favorite gemstones drawing out my inner magpie, the cord's buttery softness making me wonder what it would feel like around my neck.

"It's beautiful. But why are you giving this to me?"

"For protection. And, as a... a late birthday gift. Happy birthday, by the way. Hah; I feel so old. I'm more than five times your age." Wow, he really doesn't look it.

"How do you know when my birthday is?"

"I heard you thinking about it while we were packing yesterday." I never thought I'd hear heard and think in the same sentence. At least not in this context.

"Oh. How nice. Thank you. Wait, did you say protection?" I turn the pendant over in my palm, looking for something I might have missed. Not finding anything, I give him a puzzled look.

He runs his fingers through his hair, shaking droplets onto the "sea" floor. "Yeah. It belonged to my grandmother. She used to be a vampire Hunter. I know, it's kind of ironic. She died shortly before I was, uh, turned. I hate to say this, but it's a good thing she did; it could have gotten very awkward."

Wow.

I sort of figured that the existence of vampires would come with vampire Hunters. But his own grandmother?

Just... Wow.

But even knowing its origin doesn't help me figure out how to use it to protect myself. Apparently he can see my continued confusion because he lifts the pendant from my hand, his fingertips making my skin zing as he barely runs them across my palm.

Placing it gently in his own palm, he tilts it so I can see as he presses the center garnet and turns it, ever so slightly, to the left. A tiny razor thin blade pops out and I gasp, picking it up when he offers it. Running my finger along it's half-circle shape, I accidentally slice my finger. I don't even realize it until he pulls it towards the light with a concerned expression, the wound only revealed by the thin line of blood appearing.

Oh great. Of all the places to cut yourself, among a group (mob, swarm, murder, flock?) of vampires has to be in the top two; neck and neck with 'swimming with sharks'. We both stare at my finger as it heals, closing over the span of about ten seconds. He still holds my fingertip and I try not to think about him, another of my newly found powers, or the necklace.

I wiggle my finger and he lets go. He seems almost reluctant to do so and I think I know why, but at the same time I somehow know that he couldn't possibly.

Trying to change the topic, I pick my chosen movie off the desk and show it to him. He's apparently never heard of The Princess Bride because he reads and rereads the back cover. "Well, this sounds interesting. It should be a nice change from the norm. Are there vampires in this?"

"There's shrieking eels," I answer absently, trying to undo the barrel clasp of the necklace. No matter how many times I twist it in either direction, it won't open.

Exasperated, I send, "why won't it open?"

To which he responds, "it's a magnet. Pull it apart."

Following his instructions, I'm irked when I tug and it breaks apart in my hands. Well, that was embarrassing. I'm so glad that didn't happen in front of other people. Well, there's Linden, but he hardly counts; even though he looks extremely amused.

I don't know why it is, but I've always been strangely accepting of people, and Lin's no exception. I know I should probably feel terrified by him, but I don't, I'm not scared by any of them. That's how it's been all my life. Always accepting, willing and eager to make friends, only to have my potential friends tell me that I "unnerve them" or "have an unexplainably vaguely creepy vibe despite my usual bubbly personality." Seriously, I was told that once.

The only people that ever seemed to like me at all were my teachers and other adults (and, of course, Robert). If there was something "off" about me they didn't notice, although some say that children have a heightened sense of the supernatural and maybe adults just couldn't sense it. Leaving Rob to be the weirdo that I know he is, hahaha!

I don't know why that is; it's not like I'm freakishly beautiful or built like a toad (in my opinion I'm more of a back-of-class-pretty, someone everyone overlooks but then can barely forget the name of. Not that I even have a forgettable name like Susie or Alice.) Or that I'm super-freakishly smart, I'd always sported a solid A-B average (even though I rarely got anything below a 95). The only reason I was chosen to be track team captain was because I was the fastest; all of the girls always kept their distance, never minutely going out of their ways to include me in anything.

After I put on the necklace, wondering at how cold the metal is and how soft the cord, indeed, is, I stroke the disk where it rests just over my clavicle. I follow him across the hall a few minutes early.