Black Blood - 6. Chapter 6

Skylar was waiting for Blake at the breakfast restaurant. It was 8 a.m. She was tired but she couldn’t sleep. After talking with Micah all night, she had left him sleeping with Mayrin on her double bed. So not only did she not have a bed to sleep on, she also felt so confused and overwhelmed by the recent events that she couldn’t possibly rest. She had called Blake, telling him they had to meet right away.

Normally she would’ve invited him over to her apartment to save money, and she would’ve cooked something. But this morning her roommates Florence and Mike were being all cute and loving in the kitchen, making pancakes while throwing more sticky mixture at each other than they were actually cooking. They were doing that silly stuff couples sometimes did in movies. It was adorable, Skylar supposed, except she really didn’t want to have to clean all that mess. So restaurant it was.

She had only ordered a cinnamon latte while waiting for her date, and she inhaled the sweet smell of it while waiting for it to cool down a bit. She sat in a booth next to the floor to ceiling window. The view from here was that of a regular busy Manhattan street, with all the traffic and people in professional clothes getting to work with a briefcase in their hand, the early sunlight shining upon them. Sitting with her legs crossed, Skylar wore flat ankle boots, a violet plaid skirt and a white shirt with lace sleeves, and she had tied her curly hair up in a messy ponytail.

Finally, when she saw Blake getting off a cab, she was filled with mixed feelings; relief that he hadn’t bailed and apprehension for what was to be discussed.

He walked in the restaurant like he owned the place, the way he always did. He was ever so elegant in a slim black tailored suit with a white shirt and no tie, his sleek brown hair spilling over his forehead in a stylishly messy way, like some of those hair paste commercial models. When he spotted Skylar, he smiled handsomely and walked across the busy restaurant to come sit in front of her. The pretty waitress in a purple apron was either effectively fast or impressed with Blake’s looks, because she was already here to take his order. He asked for the same as Skylar.

“You look nice,” said Skylar, her elbows resting on the table.

“So do you. I can see your tattoo.” Smiling, he reached over to brush the back of his fingers across the side of her neck, near the small flower tattoo. She didn’t wear her hair up very often.

But she shook him off, feeling irritated and nervous. She fiddled with her long silver earring as she shot him a hard glance.

“This isn’t a romantic date, Blake.

“Then what is it?” His smile faded a bit. Skylar got the feeling that he already knew what this was about, and he was just playing innocent.

Before she could say anything, the waitress came back with Blake’s latte. With her best customer service smile, she asked what they would like to eat. Skylar kept it simple and ordered a cream cheese bagel while Blake asked for the banana chocolate pancake. Then the waitress was off, her high ponytail bouncing as she walked between the tables. The small restaurant was overly flooded with light, and the décor’s theme seemed to be Easter, with shades of purple and yellow all over the place. Skylar had only chosen this place because she had felt like walking rather than taking a cab, and this one was close to her apartment.

She couldn’t help but be a little amused as she stared at Blake.

“What?”

“You act all professional business man and then you go and order chocolate pancakes like a little boy.”

“Well, it’s tasty.”

Her elbow on the wooden table, Skylar rested her chin in her hand, narrowing her eyes a bit.

“How old are you anyway, Blake? We’ve been dating for almost three weeks and I barely know a thing about you.”

He took a sip of coffee. “I’m older than I look, so I don’t want to say. I’m shy.”

“Shy? Please. Is that why you like to pose as a nude model for life drawing class? And what do you do for a living, anyway?”

Blake spread his arms. “I told you, my sister and I inherited a lot of money from our parents.”

“So you just don’t go to school or work?” She shook her head, shrugged. “No plans? No ambition for the future? Being rich. That’s all you’re doing.”

“Pretty much.”

“Why don’t you tell me about your sister? You keep mentioning her, but I’ve never even met her. I’ve never even been to your place.”

“You’ll have to come, then. It’s beautiful; you’ll love it. The view,” Blake said, “is stunning.”

“I’m sure. So about your sister…”

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything.”

“Huh, let’s see.” Blake looked up thoughtfully. Skylar knew that he was only playing along right now. “She’s impulsive, stubborn, spoiled. She likes beautiful things. She likes being in charge.”

“I bet she does.”

When the waitress came back with their food, Skylar asked for a local newspaper, which she brought shortly after. She really was a good waitress; better than Skylar ever was back at that fancy Boston restaurant that was for sure. Skylar ate some of her bagel while Blake started eating his pancakes with appetite. Flipping the newspaper’s pages, Skylar found the crime news articles. There had to be something in there.

She found what she was looking for; a small entry on a young girl found dead in a dumpster. Her neck had been savagely bitten and torn at, and she had died of blood loss. She showed the article to Blake.

“Oh, my, that’s horrible.”

“What do you think did such a thing?”

Blake frowned, looking at the page. “Here it says it might be a wild animal.”

“Yeah, right. A wild animal. Downtown. And I’m sure the animal threw her in the dumpster, too.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“The truth, Blake,” she hissed. “Come on, stop lying to me. Tell me the truth about your sister.” She dropped the knife she had been using to spread the cheese on her bagel. She wasn’t hungry anymore.

Blake, though, seemed unbothered. He licked the chocolate on his fork voluptuously.

“This is so good.”

“Blake for Christ’s sake.” She let her hand drop, slamming the table. Some people in nearby booths stared in her direction.

“All right, all right,” Blake said quietly, raising his hands in surrender. “First of all, she’s not my sister.”

“Then what is she?” asked Skylar. “Your girlfriend? Did you lie to me about that, too?”

Blake tilted his head. “Now, love, don’t be melodramatic.”

She cursed and lowered her voice. “I’ll be melodramatic if I want to. Your fake sister, or should I say Charisma, is a vampire.”

“Not exactly.”

“Then what?”

“She created them.”

“How?”

“That’s a long story.”

She crossed her arms, arching an eyebrow. “I have time.”

Her phone buzzed then, as if to prove her wrong, and she hastily looked through her bag to find it. While she did, Blake shrugged and ate some more of his pancakes. It was a text from Micah. Apparently he really needed to see her right now. He asked to know where she was. She debated this, then texted him back to let him know. After all, he had a right to know what was going on. His boyfriend was Blake’s cousin. Or was he?

She felt silly for believing him before.

“Viko’s not your cousin, either, is he?” She shoved the phone back in her bag.

“No.”

“Is he a vampire?”

“No,” Blake chuckled, “have you seen how much he eats?”

“I’ve noticed, yeah.”

He kept his voice low. “Vampires only drink blood. They don’t eat food. It’s just not appetizing to them.”

She stared at the enormous bite of pancake he was currently shoving down his throat.

“I take it you’re not a vampire either, then.”

“Not at all.”

“How can I trust you? How do I know you’re not lying to me again? And will you stop eating? You’re pissing me off.”

He did, obediently, and he washed it down with a swig of coffee. He took a breath, and sat back in his seat.

“You’re hot when you’re angry.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re such a cliché.”

“Clichés are for a reason. You know,” he licked his lips, “I wasn’t sure you had it in you.”

“What?”

“I was there when Jacy told Charisma what you did last night. You made quite an impression on Jacy. Now she respects and fears you. Also she wants to kill you.”

Skylar tried to appear indifferent, but she couldn’t repress a shiver as she looked up at Blake. She remembered the first vampire she had killed, that blonde man with the glasses. Skylar hadn’t forgotten what he had said. She warned me about you! I’m going to destroy you for her!

“You guys already knew about me. About my powers. How?”

The sunlight flooding the restaurant seemed to fade a bit. Outside, clouds were gathering in the sky. Blake was hesitating, searching for his words. This felt so surreal. Here they were discussing vampires, and at the nearest table Skylar could hear a couple talking about the latest Miley Cyrus gossip. Well, to each his own.

“We do have plans and ambitions for the future, you see. We can’t afford to let anyone stop us. So we have some files on people like you, with the potential to hinder us.”

Skylar felt cold. Files. Mayrin had a file on her, didn’t she? That was what her mother had revealed. What if Mayrin had sold her out? What if these people were all working together, manipulating her? She felt vulnerable, down to her very core. And she hated the feeling so much.

Blake went on, “We didn’t come unprepared. We happen to like it here, see, and—”

But Skylar stopped listening then. She watched, confused, as Mayrin walked in the restaurant and came to stand next to their booth. It was like a flashback of when she had barged in that Starbucks.

“What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

Without looking at her, Mayrin raised her hand, in which she was holding Micah’s cell phone. Skylar cursed under her breath. Mayrin had stolen Micah’s cell phone and texted her, then. Micah’s phone wasn’t the only thing she had stolen. She wore one of Skylar’s favorite dresses. The fabric was navy silk, and it had a plunging back.

“Okay why are you wearing this? I know I said I could lend you some stuff, but I expected you to grab jeans and a t-shirt; this isn't the freaking Golden Globes…”

But Mayrin was completely ignoring her.

“Blake.” The way she pronounced his name sounded more like ‘Balaki.’

“Mayrin!” said Blake, smiling pleasantly. He also pronounced her name differently, in an accent Skylar didn’t recognize. “What a lovely surprise. Xievon said there was a beautiful woman with very pale blonde hair with Skylar last night, so I thought it might be you. But I wasn’t sure. It could’ve just been some friend Skylar hadn’t told me about yet. I’m glad you’re here, though.” He scooted over, beckoning her to sit next to him. “I should’ve known it was you, really. I know how you love to mess with other people’s business.”

Skylar was staring at him. Beneath Blake’s overly pleasant, mocking tone, there was a tinge of uneasiness. Slowly, almost like she was hypnotized, Mayrin sat without ever tearing her gaze from his.

The atmosphere was so tense that when the waitress appeared with her bouncy ponytail Skylar almost jumped.

She was smiling at Mayrin.

“Can I get you some coffee?”

Mayrin didn’t seem to hear her. So Blake raised a finger, his dark eyes flicking over to the waitress.

“She’ll have some lemon herbal tea, actually, if you have it.”

“I’m not sure, but I’ll go check!”

A heavy silence fell upon the three of them for a moment. Skylar played with her hair nervously, bringing it over her shoulder. She was waiting for them to talk, explain, anything.

“I should’ve known you were behind this,” said Mayrin with a cool composed expression. “Airi told me he didn’t see you at the last battle against your kind

Blake sighed. “Ah, I’m so sorry I missed that. Your new boyfriend, isn’t he? Bet he really wanted to kill me. Would’ve been fun to shatter him in a million pieces.”

“Don’t underestimate him,” said Mayrin.

“You’re right, I shouldn’t. I take it you’ve met my new girlfriend?” He smiled at Skylar across the table.

Skylar raised a brow. “Oh, sure, I’m definitely still your girlfriend after this. I’m positive my parents would be ecstatic to know I’m dating some guy whose friends are a bunch of bloodthirsty monsters. I’m sure you can pay for our grand wedding ceremony with your dead ‘parents’ money. Yeah, right. Lying bastard. I bet you just went and killed a bunch of people and stole their money.”

Blake’s eye twitched, his expression changing a bit. “Actually just the ones who lived in the condo we now occupy. But that’s not the point. Skylar, I wish I could’ve had more time to talk to you. I don’t want to kill you. I don’t want Charisma or Jacy to kill you. At first I was just intrigued by you, but now I like you, and I—”

“Oh my God.” Skylar put a hand to her lips. She felt like such an idiot. “The life drawing class. You just applied to that so you could get close to me. It was all just a game to you. That’s just… That’s just great. Now I feel stupid. Congratulations, Blake.”

He brushed all that off with a wave of his hand. “I want you on my side, Skylar.”

Mayrin flinched then. But she didn’t have anything to worry about. Blake’s smoldering dark gaze wouldn’t seduce Skylar this time.

“Screw that. I’m on no one’s side.” She sat back in her seat, her jaw set.

“That’s too bad, we would’ve been great together.” Blake really did look disappointed.

“Whatever.” Skylar raised her chin toward Mayrin. “You. If you tell me the truth, and only the truth from now on, and also if you teach me some of your magic stuff like you said you would, then I’ll stay by your side to kill the vampires. I owe you, after all.”

The look on Blake’s face was dark and sullen, whereas Mayrin’s smile was rather smug, like she was itching to flip around and tell him, ‘In your face.’

“War’s on, then,” said Blake, regaining a cool indifference in no time.

“Oh, it’s on,” Skylar gave him her best faked smile.

She realized the waitress never came back. Either she had forgotten, or there was no lemon herbal tea and she didn’t know how to relay the sad news.

“I just have one question,” Mayrin said, “who’s Charisma? Is she really one of my people?”

Blake took a long swig of coffee. He was enjoying leaving Mayrin in suspense for as long as possible. What a jerk.

“Very much so, though she never felt like she belonged. I believe she mentioned you were once her tutor at Zarien’s Academy. She used to go by Nafi.”

Mayrin’s eyes went wide, her lips parted.

“That little girl? She’s the one who started all this?”

“You haven’t seen her in a year, if I’m not mistaken. She’s not such a little girl anymore. Careful, Mayrin,” a shadow crossed Blake’s eyes, “remember what we said about underestimating people.”

Mayrin’s eyes darted to Skylar. “Come on, we’re leaving.”

She stood, grabbed the newspaper, and followed Mayrin. Before she walked past the table Blake reached out and brushed her arm slightly, like he wanted to grab it but was too uncertain.

“It was fun while it lasted,” he smiled.

She returned it coolly. “Not that fun.”