CHAPTER 15

"Lena, wake up!"

I jolted awake and sat up. "What? What's wrong?" Fire, I thought at first, and then I saw Jamie with her hands on her hips. I did a quick check—I was in my own blanket, I hadn't sleepwalked to Jamie's bed and snatched her pillow or the doll dubbed Duckie Nick had given her.

"You have five minutes for shower and dressing," she told me, her arms now folded. My eyes flew to the clock. Shit.

I almost slipped on the slippery shower floor when I zoomed into it. I had barely gotten out of my clothes when I hit the shower on. The water was ice-cold. I jumped back a little. Remembering that I didn't have much time, I forced myself to let the cold beads of water rain on my skin. The shampoo and soap went at the same time, and I thought I must have gotten some of the soap on my scalp, but I didn't have time to fix it, so I just washed the whole thing off, along with my soap-lathered body.

A quick toweling and a random pick of clothes got me a white tee and black jeans.

Jamie squinted at me when I got out. "Where's your bra?"

I slapped my forehead and went to my drawers. I did a quick strip and strap, and was finished in less than one minute. I grabbed my bag.

Jamie nodded.

I peeked at the window to see how Nick was dealing with waiting. He was nowhere to be found. I frowned and pulled the curtains further to look outside. A movement caught my eyes—a figure disappearing into the shadows of trees.

My heart pounded for a panicked second. Had someone been watching our window? I shook the thought away before it turned into a full-blown paranoia. It was probably just random guy passing by.

Downstairs, Nick was leaning against his car. He'd parked it on the side of the restaurant today. "What took you so long, babe?" he asked Jamie, delivering a quick peck on her.

We got into the car. Nick started the car and drove.

"It's Elena," she said when we got on the road, turning to me. "You slept like dead last night. I tried to wake you up just now, but you just went back to sleep with this dopey, loopy smile."

I blushed fiercely. "I...uh..."

"Had a hot dream?"

"Jamie!"

The truth was, I didn't even remember what I'd dreamt about. And that was a first time. All I knew was that I'd never had that kind of a good sleep in awhile. Maybe now that I'd figured out a lot of things, my mind wasn't as tightly wound anymore.

We arrived at school just as the bell rang. We were lucky not to have to get dumped into the counselor's office and a detention for a late pass.

I felt at ease. The lessons came to me like melting honey. Dripping, and sticking. There was a pop quiz at Chem, but I didn't stress over it too much even though I wasn't sure about half of my answers. I could even ignore Trent Wellington's jibes in the group discussion in one of my classes.

I met up with Jamie, Nick, and Ingrid at the hallway.

"Someone has got a heavenly blush this morning," Ingrid teased.

"She had a hot dream just now," Jamie explained to her.

"No, I don't even remember—" I saw Duane walking toward our way. He ducked from bumping into other kids' shoulders, striding fast with a very rare wide smile. "—the dream," I finished.

Duane came over to me and leaned in, hands raised as if to touch me. But he changed his mind, letting them fall to his sides. I remembered the last time he'd confronted us and glanced at Ingrid.

"Hi," he said, his gray eyes locked with mine.

I answered him with a tentative smile.

"Are you going to have lunch?" he asked.

I nodded.

Jamie stepped forward. "Actually, yes, we are. And you can join us, too. But who are you again?"

I shot her a look. It wasn't like her to be rude. Looking back to our conversation last night, I wasn't that surprised, though.

"What?" she asked me. "This guy has been treating you like crap."

Sighing, I turned to Duane. "Duane, this is my friend Jamie. Jamie, Duane. Nick, Duane. Duane, Nick. And you know Ingrid." I turned back to Jamie. "Happy now?"

"Pleased to be acquainted," Duane quipped.

I raised an eyebrow at Jamie, saying silently, See? He's making an effort.

Jamie relented. We went to the lunch hall together.

"How's your morning?" Duane asked me, walking close to me. Ingrid, Jamie and Nick walked in front of us, giving us a little privacy to talk.

I glanced at him and looked away. I found it hard to hold his gaze for long when he was scrutinizing at me like that.

"What made you decide to talk to me suddenly?"

Duane shrugged. "It's not like what you're thinking. I don't mean to give mixed signals. Being close to you is like a luxury I try to ban myself from. But sometimes, I don't try too hard."

The proximity between his lips and my ear was frustrating. I wanted him to be closer.

As if he read my mind, he leaned down and said softly, "I'm going on a run this noon."

"Run?" It dawned. I whispered, "As a wolf?"

"Yes." He lowered his voice. "I'm wondering if you want to come with me. Run with me."

I had no shift at Ollie's today. "Okay."

He smiled, his gray eyes lighting up in the way I had never before seen outside my dreams. It made my heart skipped a beat or two.

We sat on our table. Jamie gave me a strange look that I decided to ignore. And then she said in a lowered voice, "So Mr. Sexy Rain here is asking you out on a date?"

My face heated. She didn't know Duane could probably hear her, being a werewolf and all. "I don't know if it's one," I said.

"Huh." She gave me that strange look again. "Just don't go all Edward and Bella on me, alright? No rolling around in a fake meadow or getting married at eighteen."

I rolled my eyes, hoping Duane was as inept as I used to be about the pop culture reference.

She leaned back and crossed her arms, her voice louder now. "God knows how I hate all that vampy stuffs."

Nick stiffened beside her.

"What's wrong?" she asked him. I wasn't the only one who noticed the change in him.

"You like Supernatural," Nick said, seeming defensive. I wasn't the only one Jamie dragged into watching the show.

"Hey, they hunt vamps."

Ingrid muttered, "And stay looking good while at it."

"That's not true," Jamie protested. "Sam always gets messy. The vampire blood and gores on his face—" She shuddered. "Blood is gross. Vamp blood? Way, way more—"

"I like Buffy better," I said.

"Hah!" she scoffed. "You never even watch the whole series."

"I watched enough to know she's so badass."

"What about you?" Jamie asked Duane, nudging him.

"What about me?"

"What kind of vampire hunter is your favorite?"

Duane raised an eyebrow while we all waited for his answer.

Finally, he said, "Van Helsing."

"Wow," Ingrid said. "That's, like, classic."

"Wouldn't say that," Jamie countered. "Hugh Jackman played Wolverine better than he did Van Helsing."

"I don't think he meant the movie version, Jamie."

Jamie looked deep in thought, then brightened. "Oh, you mean, like, in Dracula?"

Duane shrugged.

I gave a sideway glance at him. For all I knew, he might be tightly acquainted with Van Helsing himself. He saw my look and tipped up his lips in a half smile. I really had to get used to the idea of us being in different world from my friends.

After school, Duane was waiting for me in the parking lot. He was leaning against a shiny black car that I knew was Armand's. I smiled. With his dark hair and intense gray eyes, Duane might just be posing as a model for a car commercial.

He straightened and leaned in to brush his lips on my cheek when I came over to him. My whole body tingled.

"Hey," I said. "Where are we going?"

"Just follow me."

I glanced back at Armand's car. "We're not taking that?"

The grin he gave me was definitely wolfish. "Didn't I say we're going for a run?"

My heart fluttered. "Okay then."

We started by walking. Only when we got into the woods, did we actually begin to run. The glaring sunlight was shaded by the dense leaves. It wasn't spoken out loud, but we were actually racing each other. I got a flash of déjà vu from one of my dreams. It felt like this exactly, only it wasn't raining right now.

At some point we stopped running.

"Now?" I asked him.

He nodded.

I averted my eyes this time when he stripped. It was quick. When I turned back to him, in his stead was a black wolf.

I crouched down and let my fingers thread through his thick black fur. They were so soft. His gray eyes were playful and inviting, and he beckoned his head.

"Alright, alright."

I tried to match his speed while he ran. It wasn't too hard, I discovered. Speed must be one of my already developed kitsune skills.

The trees blurred as we ran, skipping branches on the ground and taking playful turns. Duane in his wolf form was playful. He liked me scratching him behind his ears. He'd sink into my hand and nuzzle his head on me. My white shirt was all dirty because of him.

All my life—the whole life I remembered, I'd experienced happiness, excitement and all that. I don't remember feeling this content a lot, though. It felt like we'd carved a little slice of the world just for the two of us. And the feeling was not just contentment. It was much more than that, and I couldn't describe it so much in words as I could paint the sky with rain when the sun shines.

Eventually we got back to where he left his clothes, and he shifted into his human shape again.

I turned back to him once he was fully clothed. We sat under one of the trees, shoulder to shoulder.

"That was fun," I said, smiling so wide that my face felt like splitting, but I didn't care. "Thank you."

"No, thank you." Duane's eyes held something soft when he looked down at me. "I've missed you so much."

My smile faded. "I still don't know what it is that you haven't told me, Duane."

"I can't yet, Eiko. Not until you remember."

I let my head lean against the bark of the tree as I watched him. It always felt amazing, how time seemed to slow down when the two of us were together. Those gray eyes gazed back at my face, and something in them told me he wasn't admiring me the way someone does a piece of beautiful art, but instead more like someone who had just gone through his old things in the box and tried to caress the memory so that it'd feel like just yesterday.

I released my breath, my eyes shuttering. "You know, sometimes I think you're right." I opened my eyes. "Maybe it's better that I don't remember."

Something flashed in his eyes. "Why?"

"Because the more I remember about my past, the more inconsequential my present seems to be. I can't grasp onto halves—" I struggled in finding words. "I have to have something to know for certain, and now I'm not even sure about my present anymore."

"But you can. It's part of the reason why I've waited. I've watched you. You're happy without knowing. You have friends who care about you. You can learn everything you want. You shine." A wistful note emerged in his word. I remembered how lonely I'd been when I was that shunned girl in the village, before I'd met him. "I just want you to be happy for as long as you can, but sometimes I...got too selfish. And a part of me had never wanted to let you forget me."

I looked into his eyes. There were depths in them that I couldn't fathom, and I didn't think I would ever truly will. It was true, what Armand had said. Knowing and being really through it was different. Way different.

I didn't know who moved first, but we were suddenly kissing. The kiss went from soft to hot, gentle to a desperate promise. We held onto each other like there was nothing else, no one else in the world but us.

And that's the way I wanted us to last forever. But nothing ever did as we wished.

Thank you for reading :)