Affinity

Chapter 9: I Think We're Alone Now

Time seemed to be going too fast for Nastia, which is laughable given what a late bloomer she was. She was almost eighteen years old and just now feeling bloodlust for her Affinity? She let down her guard and got comfortable in her human routine. She thought she had more time... she thought she'd walk the line and graduate with her friends.

And she was wrong.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself, she internally lectured, this is how it must be.

After she and Pam had damaged their brains with milkshakes after rehearsals Tuesday, Nastia didn't want to say goodbye. Not yet. She managed to convince her mother to allow her to stay at Pam's house for the next two nights. Tammy didn't mind Anastasia staying over on a school night, but Lady Turgenev usually did.

"I thought you said you can't lie to your mom?" Pam asked as she painted her friend's nails after the teens had both showered and changed into their pajamas. They had taken a quiz online to choose what nail polish color best suits them. Pam got yellow... because her nails are stubby, and she answered that she looks best in gold. Irony deemed the blossoming vampire worthy of the classic red.

"I can't... but I have discovered how to bend a simple truth. We do have a book report to write and tests to study for. It's just not as urgent as what I implied." And strangely enough, it wasn't as hard to look her mother in the eyes as it had been just days ago.

Was the power behind her stare not working as effectively now that I was on the brink of my awakening?

The thought of awakening cooled her mood and sobered her thoughts. She needed to spend every moment with her friends. She shouldn't have agreed to that list since she was now unable to fulfill her promises... but what does it really matter? Pam won't remember her at all. Would Pam experience deja vu more often or have a general feeling of "did I forget something?" She should be more concerned about AJ and how she was going to get close to him. The clean up should be easy enough though. She planned on calling her brother for assistance with desposing of the body.

"Nastia! Hold still!" Pam complained as the little tremors shooting down Nastia's arm caused the polish to veer off course. Pam wiped away the excess with her own fingernail, ketchup on mustard. With a quick apology, the vampire willed herself to stop shaking.

I am not nervous about killing AJ. She wasn't thrilled about it, but she assured herself that it was just because she just happened to know him personally. It would've been easier to kill him if he could be a nameless nobody on the street.

I don't have human sympathies, she repeated to herself for not the first time since she felt the bloodlust.

She recalled how intoxicating his scent was today. It took a lot of will power to not let that magnetic tug pull her closer to him. During rehearsal, they just did blocking. Instead of dialogue, they focused more on movements across the stage: which wing you are entering and exiting from, where you're standing or sitting in the scene, etc... When he moved close to her, she moved away hanging on to a thread of control. Once again, her coldness made his jaw tighten.

How is she going to get him alone especially if she can't get him under her compulsion? She decided she would try it again on Thursday. Perhaps she was too emotional when she tried that first time.

"You look really scary, Nastia," Pam commented as she blew on her distracted friend's nails.

"Huh?"

"Your face. You look like you're plotting someone's murder," she joked.

Nastia's breath came out in a half-crazed giggle. "Pam..."

"Yeah?"

The blonde pulled her best friend into a tight hug and was instantly engulfed in the scent of the strawberry shampoo she had used earlier.