Heather Brewer - Tenth Grade Bleeds

Vlad curled up on his side, his fingers still trembling. That was it, then. The decision was made. He had to hand over the journal to D’Ablo.

He tried to comfort himself with the knowledge that he’d memorized every page and there was nothing within it that D’Ablo shouldn’t necessarily see. But still sleep came very slowly. And when it did, it was filled with more nightmares.

The worst Vlad had yet experienced.

NELLY’S VOICE HAD RISEN SO HIGH that it had left the realm of hysterical about five octaves ago. “ Vladimir, I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately. First, you nearly bite Meredith. Then you get detention for skipping class and kissing in the supply room-”

“It was a broom closet, and I wasn’t skipping class.”

“-and now you’re hanging out with a new set of friends who keep you out all hours of the night, with no explanation of where you’ve been or what you’ve been doing.”

Vlad took a deep breath, buying time to go over his and Henry’s story once more in his mind before speaking it out loud. “I told you, Nelly. We went to this club in Stokerton, and afterward I ran into Henry. He said he’d give me a ride home, but he got distracted by a girl, and then I stayed over at his place so I wouldn’t wake you up.”

Nelly shook her head. “And just how long did it take you and Henry to come up with that feeble excuse?”

Vlad pursed his lips. Nelly was smarter than he’d been giving her credit for.

When she spoke again, her voice cracked. “And exactly why is the front of the shirt you wore last night covered in what looks like dried blood?”

Vlad stared at the shirt for a moment, trying to find the right words. There was no way he could tell her the truth, no way he could burden her with his horrific, beastly act. Meeting her gaze, he saw suspicion lurking in her eyes. He replied with a blatant lie, mostly so they could both go on pretending that he was a normal teenager. Better that way. Let Nelly have her delusions. “I got sloppy with a snack pack, okay?”

The hurt expression on Nelly’s face cut Vlad deep, but it was better than telling her the truth and seeing fear there instead. She dropped his shirt back into the laundry basket and lowered her voice, as well as her eyes. “You’re grounded. One week for doing whatever you were doing last night. And one week for lying to me about it. Now go upstairs.”

A lump formed in Vlad’s throat. Nelly had never spoken to him that way before, or sent him to his room. He knew he deserved far, far worse for what he was putting her through. But it was better to lie and hurt her some than tell the truth and break her heart completely.

With a slumped posture, Vlad made his way up the stairs to his room, closing the door softly behind him. Before the door closed entirely, Vlad thought he heard soft weeping from downstairs. The sound of it made his chest ache. I’m sorry, Nelly, he thought. I’m so sorry… for everything.

He lay on his bed for a while, staring at the ceiling, trying not to think about his conversation with Nelly or the fact that he missed Otis more than ever. He thought a little about Meredith, about his almost uncontrollable hunger, and wondered exactly how he could protect her from his dire thirst. Drinking from Snow had been paradise-a paradise he didn’t want to revisit with Meredith. But how could he save her from his hungry advances without distancing himself?

Mostly he focused on how he was going to give D’Ablo the journal. Being grounded complicated matters, but not by much. He contemplated calling Henry, to let him know that he was going to sneak into Stokerton tonight to pay D’Ablo a visit-after all, somebody should know his whereabouts, just in case something happened-but he wasn’t entirely sure he would be allowed a phone call. After several minutes, he cracked open his door and slowly made his way downstairs.

Nelly was sitting on the couch, quietly flipping through the pages of a magazine that Vlad was almost certain she wasn’t reading. He stood at the bottom of the stairs for a long moment, unsure of what he should say. Finally, he cleared his throat softly. When she didn’t look up, he knew she was angry, but he wasn’t surprised. She had every right to be. He took a breath and said, “Can I call Henry?”

Nelly blinked up at him, her eyes red from crying. “I don’t know. Are you allowed phone calls?”

Vlad sighed and sat on the bottom step. “I don’t know. Don’t you kinda make up the rules on that?”

“Your mom would know what to do.” Nelly’s voice cracked. “If she was still here, things would be different. You wouldn’t be acting the way you’ve been acting.”

Vlad tilted his head, meeting her eyes. “How have I been acting?”

Nelly reached for another tissue, tears retracing the tracks on her cheeks. “Like a teenager, I suppose. But you have to understand, Vladimir, I’ve never dealt with a teenager before. Let alone a teenager as… special as you.”

Special. Vlad’s insides shrank a little. What a nice way of pointing out what a freak of nature he was. He was sure Nelly hadn’t meant it that way, but that didn’t erase the hurt.

Nelly took a shuddered breath. “I have no idea what I’m doing.”

Vlad’s face flushed, and he felt sick to his stomach. He had no idea he’d been hurting Nelly like that. “Nelly, I’ve been a teenager for a couple of years now. And you’re doing fine. I just… there’s a lot of stuff going on right now that I can’t talk to you about.”

Nelly’s eyes grew wide with concern. “What kind of stuff? Girl stuff? Friend stuff? Drug stuff? Gang stuff?”

Vlad suppressed a smile. It was sweet how she worried endlessly about him. “More like vampire stuff.”

“Oh.” Nelly relaxed some, then asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

Vlad sighed and ran a hand through his hair, brushing his bangs from his eyes. “ That’s the thing. I want to, but there are these… laws. And I’m not exactly sure what I can tell you and what I can’t.”

Nelly nodded. “Otis mentioned something about vampiric laws. He said that he broke one in telling me he was a vampire, and that that’s one of the reasons he can’t stay here with us.”

Vlad blinked, suddenly curious what else Otis had shared with his guardian. “ That’s one of them. But there are a ton more, and I have to be careful not to break any more. Because I don’t want to put you in any more danger from Elysia just because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut.”

Nelly was quiet for a good long time. Finally she dried her eyes and nodded. “ That makes sense, I suppose. So what you’re saying is, don’t ask too many questions?”

Vlad sighed, the sick feeling dissipating. “ That’s about it, yeah. I wish Otis were here.”

“So do I, sweetie.” Nelly straightened in her seat. “Okay. But I have to ask one question, or I’ll never be able to sleep at night. Did something happen last night that you can’t tell me… or that you won’t?”

Then it was Vlad’s turn to be quiet. Finally he shook his head, hoping she’d believe his lie. For both their sakes. “It’s not what you think, Nelly. I meant what I said before. I just got a little messy with a midnight snack, that’s all.”

To his enormous relief, Nelly visibly relaxed. “You should be more careful, Vladimir.”

He nodded, the burden of guilt heavy on his chest. “I know. I’ll try.”

Nelly nodded in return. “Are you going to call Henry now?”

“Am I still grounded?”

She sighed and met Vlad’s eyes with a forgiving smile. “I suppose I can’t really ground you for trying to protect me.”

Vlad shoved his hands in his pockets and turned to walk out of the room, then paused and looked back at his aunt. “ Thanks, Nelly.”