Brynne, Non-Vampire (The Non-Vampire Series) Read online

  Brynne, Non-Vampire

  Brynne, Non-Vampire

  Cover art by Sunday Andrew Jr.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters and locations are either figments of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. ©2013 Jennie Taylor

  All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in any form, in whole or in part, without written permission from the author.

  This is once again dedicated to Maggie, who is always my source

  of inspiration in everything I do. I love you, my Maggie!

  Thursday, May 12 “Hey Brynne,” my best friend, Jessica Sloan, said as I entered the

  little diner she works at after school. “Have a seat at the counter, I’ll

  get you something in a minute, ‘kay?”

  “Sure Jess.”

  She loves this job. Well that’s not true, she actually hates it. She loves that she makes her own money and her parents let her spend it how she wants. It gives her a sense of freedom. I sort of envy that. That she has a family to feel free from.

  Jess is good with people. That guy she’s serving would never buy that extra pie from anyone else. It’s not that she flirts with them, she’s just really nice and pays attention to people. She remembers them, remembers when they have problems at home or at work. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard her ask about a sick relative of someone in here. And she knows things. Like she senses things about people. Kind of makes me wonder why she doesn’t notice me.

  “Same as always?” she asked me. “I’m actually not hungry. Just a drink.” She got my drink and brought it over. The place is almost empty tonight, so she came around the counter and sat next to me. Some nights I come in here and we do our homework together, but neither of us have any tonight.

  “Barney requests your presence at dinner on Saturday.” she said. “We’re grilling chicken.” Barney is her older brother. He’s kind of creepy, to be honest. He’s always leering at me. And when you’ve been around like I have, leering isn’t something that usually bothers you. Barney’s leering does.

  “Something wrong?” she asked. “You seem depressed tonight.” “Yeah. Well, I’m just having a bad day, I guess.”

  “You wanna tell me about it?”

  Do I want to tell her about it? In the worst way. But I’ve never told anyone about it. Not in all this time. I’ve had friends, hundreds of friends, but never anyone that I really cared about like I do her. To say the least.

  “You, uh,” I rubbed at my eyes. Wow, been a while since I cried. I mean really cried. Sometimes you have to fake it, for social purposes, when people expect you to cry. “Do you think you could take off early tonight, Jessica?”

  “I need the money.” She sighed and pulled a napkin from the holder and handed it to me. “Hey Micheal,” she shouted. The assistant manager stuck his head out from the kitchen. “We’re dead. Can I knock off a little early?”

  “Go on. No point in me paying you to have girl talk anyway.” “Come on,” she said to me. “Let’s go for a walk.” She’s several inches taller than I am. I think she thinks she’s stronger and tougher than I am, too, and she tries to protect me. It’s sort of funny, she’s been close to fighting a couple of times to protect me. If she only knew.

  “So what’s up?” she asked. We're about three blocks from the diner. “Problems at home?”

  “Jess, how long have we been friends?”

  “I don’t know. A couple of years.”

  “You know you’re my best friend, right?” I asked. I stopped walking. “My only real friend.”

  “Brynne, what’s going on? Are you arguing with your parents?”

  “You’ve never met my parents.” I told her. Why does this have to be so hard? Maybe I should just not tell her.

  “I sort of got the feeling you were embarrassed.” she said. “Kind of like I am with my brother.”

  “They’re dead.”

  “What?” Her eyes were wide. It’s really dark out here, but I can see the look on her face clearly. I have really good eyesight. “When? Oh Brynne, I’m sorry.” Her arms started around me, but I stepped back. “Brynne,”

  “Jess, they’ve been dead a long time.”

  “What? You never told me.”

  “I’ve never told anyone.”

  “Well who do you live with?”

  “I live alone. Very, very alone. All the time.”

  “But... well how?”

  Either she’s going to think I’m crazy when I tell her this, or she’ll freak out and want me dead. There’s a slim chance she’ll take option three, but I’m not holding my breath. Not that it would matter if I did.

  “I get by. I have to tell you something, Jess. Something I’ve never told anyone, and you have to promise not to ever tell anyone else. Promise?”

  “Yeah, sure.” She smiled a little. “You’re gay, right?” “What?”

  “It’s okay, Brynne. Really, I sorta guessed, I was just

  waiting...”

  “What would make you think I was gay?”

  “Well, I mean you’re...”

  “Never mind, this isn’t... Why would you say that?” Great, like

  I need this distraction. “That’s not what I need to talk about. Now promise you won’t tell.”

  “Sure.” “I’m serious. There are people out there who would try to kill me if they knew where I was.”

  “What?” She smiled a little. “Yeah, okay Brynne. What, you’re going to tell me you’re in witness protection or something now, right? Ha ha. You had me going for a minute.”

  “No. Jessica.” I said.

  I shouldn't even be telling her this, I should just run away like I always do. Or at least keep my mouth shut. But Jess is the best friend ever, and I don't think I can continue to keep this a secret from her. And after seeing that report earlier on the news about the woman in Wichita who was killed and drained of blood by some gang, I can't stop thinking about what I am. So... Here goes.

  “In the past two years you’ve grown up. You’re older, you’re starting to look like an adult, right?”

  “Are you saying I’m fat?”

  I laughed. “How do you get that from what I said?” Her weird thoughts like that are part of what I love about her. “No, I’m not. I’m just saying you’ve gotten older. And I haven’t.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I’m saying in five years, when you’re twenty-two and in your last year of college, I’m still going to be fifteen. Or at least look like it.”

  “You have me really confused now.” She shook her head. “You’re bragging about aging gracefully? Brynne, this isn’t like you, what’s going on?”

  “I’m just saying that... I don’t age. My kind, we don’t age.”

  “Your kind?”

  Now she’s the one laughing. I guess I can’t blame her. I should have thought out how I’d say all this before I told her. It’s just that I’ve never told anyone before, so I had no idea it would be this difficult to explain.

  “Yeah.”

  “And, um,” She was giggling again. “What kind is that?” “I don’t know, exactly. Alejandro only ever called us the

  eternals.”

  “Who is Alejandro?”

  “He’s the one that made me what I am.”

  “Insane?” she asked, laughing some more.

  “No. He killed my parents, and my younger brother. He tried to

  change them, too, but it was too late by then. He couldn’t, he had drank too much of their blood. I was the only one who survived.” “You need to get some sleep,” she said, trying to control her laughing. “You’re cracking up, girl.�
�

  “Do you have anything sharp?” I'll show her how different I am. Or at least one way I am different.

  “What?”

  “Sharp. Like a knife, or knitting needles, or something?”

  “Yeah, I knit.” she said sarcastically. “You really are worrying me, Brynne. You should go lay down.”

  “Fine!”

  I looked around until I found a sharp rock. She watched me, and I could see that she was really quite concerned. I love her, and I hate doing this to her, but she’ll be okay.

  “Here,” I said. I held the jagged edge up and slid it down my arm, gouging it and leaving it bloody.

  “What the hell!” she shouted. She pulled her jacket off and wrapped it around my arm. “Why did you do that? Oh Brynne, I’m sorry I made fun of you. We need to get you to the hospital.”

  “Jess,”

  “I didn’t realize you would hurt yourself.” She’s starting to cry.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Oh Brynne, why?!”

  She is really upset. I guess maybe I could have done this better. Some way that wouldn’t have made her think I was committing suicide right in front of her. Plus side, now I know she really does care about me. Not that I doubted that a lot anyway.

  “Jess!” I pushed her back and pulled her jacked free from my arm and wiped at it. “See.”

  “See what?”

  There wasn’t a lot of light, so I pulled her along until we were within the small amount of glow from the corner street light. I raised my arm up, showing her the spot where the blood had gushed, where now there was a small mark, already turning into a small scar.

  “It’ll be completely gone by midnight.” I said.

  “Wha... but... but all that blood?”

  “I’m trying to tell you; I’m not like you. I’m not... human. Not

  completely.”

  “I... I need to sit down.” I led her to the curb and she sat, her head between her knees. I shouldn’t have told her. I should have done like I always have, just moved on after a couple of years. It’s so hard to make friends that way, though. Knowing you’ll have to leave them so soon. And I love Jessica. She’s the best friend I’ve ever had, and the best person I’ve ever known. It would be hard to leave her.

  “So... so this is a trick. This has to be a trick.” she mumbled. “No.”

  “Then you’re... what, exactly? You just heal quickly, or is there

  more?”

  “A lot more.”

  “Tell me.” she said. She looked up at me. “Tell me, Brynne.” “What you really want to know is that I drink blood, right?

  Like Alejandro.”

  “What? So you’re... you’re a... vampire?” She loves vampire

  books, it’s no surprise she went there. Well, plus, I all but said it

  already.

  “I’m so not a vampire.”

  “Well then what?”

  “I told you, all he said was we were eternals. Which didn’t turn

  out to be so true, since he died about a year later. He wasn’t able to tell

  me a lot, he barely taught me enough to survive.”

  “Oh. So... but you are? Like, basically? Like a... one of those?” “There are similarities.” Unfortunately.

  “Do you read minds?”

  “No, Jessica, that’s just silly.”

  She stared at me for a minute. I’m sure she was saying all sorts

  of horrible things in her head, trying to get a reaction from me, testing

  whether I was lying about that or not.

  “So you do? Drink blood?” she finally asked. “It’s... sort of necessary.” I told her. That is the thing I’m most ashamed of.

  “But it’s like... like in the books, where they can survive on animals, right? You hunt deer and stuff?”

  “It has to be human.”

  “Oh.” Her eyes went wide. “Oh! Oh!”

  “I’d never hurt you.” I said. I scooted away. “You think I’d do that? You’re my best friend, Jess. Ever!”

  “No, Brynne, I just... I don’t know what to think right now.”

  “I’d never hurt you. I swear.”

  “Okay, okay. Do you kill them?” She looked down. She’s shaking. “Oh gosh, please tell me you don’t.”

  “I usually steal from a blood bank. Stealing seems better than the alternative.”

  “It is. Do you always? Do you sometimes... kill people?”

  “No.” I told her. “Not anymore.”

  “Oh.” She looked around and thought about that for a while. She closed her eyes and turned her head toward me. “Not anymore. But you have?”

  Her eyes were on mine now. She’s still scared of me, but I think she knows I won’t hurt her. But now she’s worried that I’ve killed people.

  “A long time ago. Never on purpose. Only a couple of times when it wasn’t self defense. When I was new to all this, I did as Alejandro told me. Which meant drinking from people directly. Back then it was kind of hard to find blood otherwise. And when we were done, something in our saliva healed the wound and made it so they’d never even remember it. But sometimes it’s very hard to know when to stop.”

  “I’m going to be sick.”

  “I... I’m sorry, Jess. Do you want me to go away?” “Yes.”

  Well this sucks. At least I tried. I’m going to miss her more than I’ve ever missed anyone. But I couldn’t stick around forever. I could probably have stayed for a few years, but some day she would have noticed I wasn’t nearly as old as her.

  “No, wait.” she said. I was getting up to leave. “Just tell me the rest. What else can you do, other than heal fast? Are you strong?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Like, bend the frame of a car sliding on ice strong?” There she goes again with the books.

  “I’d be squished, just like you. I’m not indestructible, just strong. Probably enough to beat everyone in town in an arm wrestling contest.”

  “Are you fast? Can you run a hundred miles an hour or something?”

  “No. I’m fast. I probably would struggle to keep up with Olympic sprinters at first, but I could continue to run that fast for hours.”

  “Cool. So... so how old are you?”

  “Fifteen. And I’ll be fifteen for a very long time. He told me we age about a day every year and a half. I had been fifteen for about a month when it happened, so that would make me less than fifteen and a half.”

  “But what... year?”

  “Eighteen seventy one.”

  “So you were born in what, eighteen fifty six?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is a bad dream, right? My best friend can’t be a vampire.”

  “I’m not a vampire!”

  “Sorry.”

  “I can live a long time on regular food, I just need the blood once in a while, like once every couple of months. The rest of the time I live on regular food, I just get sick if I don’t have blood once in a while, I get weak. I don’t need to sleep in a coffin, I don’t turn into a bat, I’m not some evil, undead thing!”

  “I’ve seen you in the sunlight, though.” she said. “How?”

  “I’m not a vampire!” I took a deep breath. “I can go out in the sun. I burn easily, and that doesn’t heal as fast, but I can go out in the sun for short times. Especially with sunscreen. Still, probably no more than a few minutes, or it gets bad.”

  “Bad like you’ll die?”

  “I don’t know. The longest I’ve ever been in direct sunlight was about an hour. I was bright red for several days and peeling. It was some of the worst pain I’ve ever had.”

  “You don’t even sparkle.” she said, a small smile appearing on her face.

  She was getting it together. Her breathing normalized, and she was staring at her jacket now, probably worrying about what she’d tell her mother about all the blood. Funny thing, but even more than a century of life hasn’t helped me figure out how to clean blood out of your clothes.

&nbs
p; “Why are you telling me all this, Brynne?”

  “We tell each other everything.”

  “You’re more than a hundred years older than me. I don’t know

  if I can be your best friend.”

  “Oh. Um... okay.” I sniffled and rubbed at my eyes. “I’m sorry

  to hear that.”

  “Wait.” She sighed. “You’re still the same person. I don’t know

  about all this. How can I believe this?”

  “You don’t have to. If it helps you feel better you can just

  pretend it was all a story I made up.”

  “Yeah, that’ll work. Sure.” She stood up. “You owe me so

  many stories about your life, you know? But right now I have to get

  home. Mom and Dad will freak if I’m late.” She wouldn’t have even

  gotten off of work yet if it hadn’t been slow, they aren’t even

  expecting her.

  “Okay. Jess, don’t tell anyone this. The last time someone

  found out I had to make a very hasty exit from town. People got hurt.” “Like anyone would believe me.” She tossed her jacket to me.

  “You owe me a jacket.”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Bring it with you Saturday.”

  “You still want me to come over?”

  “We have that huge shade tree out back. Will that be okay? Can

  you do that, stay in the shade?” she asked, concern in her voice. “I’ll be okay.”

  “Good. I just... I’ll see you at school tomorrow, okay?” “Thanks Jess.”

  She walked away from me. She was probably a block away when she started saying my name very softly. I ran down to her. Usually I do my best to run slow, as a girl my apparent age and size should, but I didn’t hold back this time, so I was there very quickly.

  “Yeah.” I said. “Super hearing, too.” she said, shaking her head. “So you really live alone?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s got to be hard.”

  “I’ve been doing it for over a century, I think I can handle it.”

  “But... you do live on Oak, right? In that house I’ve walked you to?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t know, maybe Mom and Dad would let you move in with us.”

  “Jess,” I stuck my arms around her in a swift motion. She tensed, but then relaxed and wrapped hers back around me. “I appreciate the offer, but I don’t think it’s the best idea.”