Hawthorn chapter 5

I'm glad I'm still leaning against the tree, because had I not been, I certainly would have collapsed under the weight of this revelation. 'Derek is a vampire. Derek is a vampire. Fuck, I should've listened when the girls told me to be careful. He was going to kill me out here.'

"I vasn't going to kill you," Derek says, still gripping his head.

"Get out of my head!" I shout. "That's bullshit and we both know it! You had me up against this tree, and your fangs were bared!"

"That doesn't mean I vas going to kill you!"

"Great, so you were trying to turn me into one of your kind. Like that's so much better!"

"I vasn't trying to turn you into a vampire, either!" He strains to stand up straight. "Anyway, it doesn't matter vhat I vas trying to do. That hawthorn and silver around your neck vill prevent it. Do you know vhy hawthorn is used to make vooden stakes for vampire hunting?"

My mind is reeling for answers. "It kills you?"

"No. See, humans alvays tvist mythology, and sometimes the vay it develops is more correct, and sometimes it's less correct. In the case of vooden stakes, you humans started off right and ended up wrong."

Derek slowly removes his hand from his forehead and walks towards me. "Vooden stakes have never been used for the killing itself. They vere alvays used to pin someone at risk of becoming a vampire to their coffin, or to pin a full vampire to the ground so it could be killed.

"Humans eventually found that hawthorn vas the most efficient vood for the task because simply being close to hawthorn limits a vampire to human-like reactions, meaning ve can't use our powers or bite a human."

He reaches me and begins stroking my neck. "As long as you vear that rosary, I can torture myself all day by following the path of your blood flowing through your veins, but I could never bite you, never taste the delicious red liquid. And this is just because I'm close to hawthorn. Vere I to actually touch it—" He pokes one of the prayer beads and immediately freezes in place.

After a few minutes, I move the necklace enough to break the contact. Derek reanimates almost instantly.

"Contact with hawthorn paralyzes everything but the brain of a vampire. Imagine vhat vould happen to a vampire if the hawthorn vas struck through their body, instead of placed somewhere it vas touching the vampire but could easily fall avay or be removed vithout much effort. The vampire vould have no possible vay to escape death.

"The other material of your little charm there, silver, on the other hand, can kill vampires. I should be very glad that it is just part of the inlaid pattern of your little necklace and that you aren't threatening to stab me vith that thing. Silver is fine for vampires to touch and even to svallow, but if ve are stabbed vith it or if it's shot into our bodies, it vill kill us in thirty seconds or less."

I grip the crucifix on the end of my rosary tighter, getting ready to do just what he said and stab him with it. But then I think about my promise to find out the details on Fu Huan's condition and how willing he seems to be to answer my questions. "Why are you telling me this? I know how to kill you now."

Derek smirks, and I can't see his fangs anymore. "I vasn't going to kill you, and you know you von't kill me. Because vhile you know at least part of vhat I am, you know vhat Dylan and his cronies are, too, and you vill vant to protect yourself, and I vant you to live."

"Why?"

"The same reason I had my fangs bared before."

My heart is beating hard with fear. "So you could kill me yourself?"

"No. Though I can't deny that I do vant you for myself."

The beating slows. "I'm sorry, did I just walk into fan fiction land? That sounds like a really bad line that was intended to be romantic."

"It's not," he deadpans. "Here, let me explain. This has to do vith blood drinking."

"So you were going to kill me," I say.

"No," he replies. "See, there are three vays a vampire can get blood. The most common and most vell-received vay is vhen a vampire takes "vampire brides", a group of villing donors who take turns feeding the vampire blood and healing their vounds. Vhether a vampire takes women, men, or both for their donors, they're still called brides. Brides remain mortal unless their master decides to turn them.

"Then there is my group of vampires, who make a bond vith a human who vill be their mate, their life partner, and their source of food for all eternity, or until the vampire is killed."

My heart rate picks right back up again. I wish I could predict this emotional rollercoaster ride. "Are you saying that you want me…?"

"To be my bonded human?" he finishes. "Yes. You vould have eternal life and youth as long as I live. You vould, sadly, be extremely sensitive to sunlight, but in exchange for a daily supply of blood, I vould provide you vith food and a home, and all your vounds would heal at an accelerated rate."

My brain is working at a million miles a minute. "But…why me?"

Derek scratches his chin. "Plain and simple? I'm gay, and you're the only guy I've met since I vas turned that seemed that in to me."

I blush. "I'm not gay!"

"Sure you're not." He gives me a skeptical look. "I can read minds, and let me tell you, you've had some very…ah, interesting thoughts about me."

My blush grows even worse. I was too weak for my legs to hold me up much longer, so I fall to my knees. Derek kneels down beside me.

"But you weren't even going to ask before you bit me," I croak.

"Vhy should I? I'm a vampire, a creature of the night. I may have to make a commitment to drink my blood straight from veins, but that doesn't mean I'll feel any remorse from forcing that bond on someone else. Besides, that electricity I felt, and I know you felt too, vas all the confirmation I needed."

I groan. This is making my head spin. "Creature of the night? Then how are you able to walk around in daylight?"

"Like most living things in this vorld, vampires adapt to survive," he explains, "like vhen ve evolved vith retractable fangs. Humans are alvays getting viser on how to detect us, or barging in on our sanctuaries. Night used to be our sanctuary, but then humans made lights and began valking around more comfortably at night, so vampires began using specialized clothing and umbrellas to valk around at day."

"Dylan's sunglasses," I realize.

"Yes. And the hoodies you see him and the members of his crew valk around in." He pauses for a moment, then adds, "And Olivia's."

I think I almost pass out. "Olivia…a vampire? No, that can't be right."

"I think so, but I'm pretty sure she's like me."

I'm feeling dizzy, but I try to shoot him a glare. "Yeah, that makes me feel so much better. 'So, Olivia, have you tried to force the vampire equivalent of marriage on anyone lately?' How anyone could be like you is beyond me."

"Dylan is vorse," Derek warns me. He stops to mull over his next words. "Think of blood drinking as sex."

"What the fuck!?!" I shout.

"Just do it!" he barks. "It vill help you put this in perspective. Now, think of that first group I described. The more 'lovers' they have, the more powerful they are seen as. Just like guys and sex, right?"

"Right."

"You already made the comparison between my group and getting married—"

"Though apparently your group loves forced marriages," I snap.

"Not all of us!" he yells back. He rubs a spot on his neck, and for a moment, I wonder why. "Some of us are very kind, good lovers."

I sigh. "Alright, and Dylan is worse because…?"

"His group is like the rapists of the vampire vorld."

I want to cuss again, but I just wait for him to explain.

"All of them take their blood by force, with no bond or commitment to any one person or any one group. Frequently, they kill their victims, but sometimes they let them live. In either case, it's an extreme risk to the safety of vampire secrecy if vord gets to the police or crime investigators."

This doesn't add up in my head. "Then why are you telling me this? My dad is a cop."

"You von't tell. If you did, you vould risk outing Olivia, who is close to your dad. He vouldn't be villing to believe she vas a vampire. He'd be more likely to think you just didn't like her and that you vere just making stuff up to be mean."

Derek is probably right, but I don't want to admit that. I feel sick. I just want to go back to before I came out here with him. I want to forget all about vampires and human bonds and rapists and blood drinking equaling sex.

"Blood drinking isn't really the same as sex. That vas just an analogy. Most vampires are capable of having sex, though some male vampires do suffer from erectile dysfunction."

I grip my head in my hands. "Argh! I really didn't need to know that! Just take me back home."

"Okay," he says. "I vill, if you take off the rosary."

I snap my head up and straighten my back. "No way in Hell," I tell him.

He puts his arms on either side of me, pressing his hands up against the tree trunk. "Listen here, I'm not playing games vith you. Dylan and I have a rivalry going, and he knows I vant you. He vill stop at nothing to kill you. But if you let me bite you, I vill make sure that he doesn't lay a finger on you."

"My rosary is protection, though," I counter. "You told me yourself about hawthorn and silver and their effects on vampires."

Derek leans in closer. "Ryan, Dylan is hundreds of years old. He vas alive during the Salem Vitch Trials. Do you really think a little hawthorn and silver, even if they're on a religious symbol, vill stop him?"

"What about a lot of hawthorn and silver?" Olivia asks.

I jump. I wasn't expecting Olivia to be way out here, but here she is, holding a wooden stake in her hand. "How did you find us?"

She held out a set of keys. "You dropped these in front of the school. It took me a while to come up with the best plan, but I decided to return your truck to you so you could get home. The rest was left to my natural vampire tracking abilities."

Derek hisses at her. "Get out of here, glog! Leave us alone."

Olivia ignored him. "Ryan, keep the rosary on and come here. As long as you have the hawthorn, he can't bother you. And if he does, I'll just stab him with this." She lifted the stake.

I slide under one of Derek's arms and go to her side. She nods and turns her attention back to Derek.

"This is your only warning," she says through clenched teeth. "Stay away from Ryan, or I swear I will kill you."

"Sure you vill. Just remember telling me this vhen Dylan comes for him." Derek stands, brushes off his hands on his pants, and heads back through the forest. "And Ryan, any time you vant to change your mind…just pass me a note in Physics."

Olivia glares at him as his back retreats down a path rarely traveled. Then she brushes something off my back and takes my hand. It's not the mind-blowing sensation I got from Derek, but it's soothing, like a baby being held by its mother.

We make it to where Olivia has parked my truck. She gets in the driver's side and takes me home. On the way, I keep thinking about everything Derek said. It was all so much, but something he shouted at Olivia didn't make sense.

"Olivia, what's a glog?" I ask finally.

She sighs, flashing a quick look at me before looking back to the road. "It's a type of half-vampire that hunts vampires only using hawthorn. They trust the sun to take care of finishing vampires off. These days, calling someone like me a glog is a derogatory term. It's like calling a man a pussy."

"Someone like you?" I inquire.

"Ryan, I was hoping you would figure it out." She looks me in the eyes. "I'm a dhampir."

That's too much shock for me in one day. I black out.