Midnight Sun, page 10
part #1 of Mortal Heat Series
Her other hand slid out and patted the back of mine. “I know you do, Lulu. And I’m sorry it worried you. I’m sure you’re right, I was just wondering if there wasn’t an alternative, you know? Like, getting a second opinion from a doctor. We only know what Mick says, that’s all. I guess I was hoping he could be mistaken.”
“And if he is?” I challenged. “Knowing that Todd is an alien who drinks your blood and injects his DNA into you, you’d be okay with that?”
“Well... like Mick pointed out, it is similar to how we do it, when you strip it down to the basics.” She shrugged, then seeing my horrified expression quickly added, “I mean, of course the idea is kind of gross, just thinking about it logically is all.”
“Em,” I started slowly, “You’re going to break it off with Todd, right?”
“Lulu, I... I mean, of course... of course I am. I just was thinking through all the angles, that’s all.” She smiled at me, attempting to portray the confidence I could tell she didn’t feel. Her hesitant tone and thoughtful expression, not to mention the way she kept glancing at her phone, told me she was still unsure.
Now I had a real problem: If Emily refused to send Todd away, how was I going to save my best friend from herself?
THE TRICK
WE STAYED UP until dawn. This time, Em called Fred to tell him she was feeling much better and would be in to work on Monday, but that I was still pretty sick. She added that she thought the weekend would be plenty of time for me to recover. Fred sounded pleased to hear that Em was better; not quite as sympathetic about my ‘illness’ as he had been for hers, but that wasn’t surprising.
Em and I agreed to get some rest. We’d get up early in the afternoon so we could plan together how to deal with Todd. When I finally laid in my bed, shades drawn, I checked my phone for the first time all night. I had several text messages from Mick, just checking in and wanting to know how Emily was doing. I didn’t bother to respond, knowing he was asleep now.
When it came down to it, I was angry with him. I knew why he didn’t tell me, and I understood his rationalization for why... sort of. What angered me was that he kept insisting Emily was fine, she was safe, Todd didn’t mean her any harm. She had been in danger, whether or not Todd meant it. He had stopped me from interrupting them that first night, distracted me. If I had stopped them from disappearing into that dressing room together, none of this would have happened.
The worst part was that he knew, he knew right away when Em and I showed up the second night that this wasn’t normal. He knew Todd was attached, and yet he met us at the second bar, and the third, and played his part every time. And what was that all about? I thought he liked me, foolishly I suppose. The thought left a bitter taste in my mouth. Was he just distracting me, keeping me from impeding Todd and Emily? Why did he do that, just to turn around and tell me to keep her away after she was already in so deep?
I was too exhausted to reach rational conclusions to the questions swirling in my head after the night I had. I resolved to get to the bottom of if after we dealt with Todd, and drifted off into an uneasy, restless sleep.
***
The alarm on my phone went off at two p.m., and I shut it off with a groggy tap of my hand. Em and I were supposed to get up at two-thirty together, but I wanted a chance to shower first. I hadn’t removed last night’s makeup before crashing in my bed, and I felt disgusting from the alcohol seeping out of my pores.
After scrubbing all the glitter and waterproof mascara from my face, I felt refreshed. I padded down the hallway towards the kitchen, intending to start breakfast. Em’s door was slightly ajar, which surprised me: Typically, after a late night I had to drag her out of bed with the promise of food. I checked the kitchen, but she wasn’t there. She must have gotten up for a shower and laid back down when she discovered I was already in the bathroom.
“Hey, rise ‘n shine Em!” I tapped at her door lightly. “How do pancakes sound?”
No response.
I pushed the door, swinging it open to discover that her room was empty. Heart pounding in my ears, I walked swiftly through our condo to verify what I already knew: Emily was gone. She snuck out while I was sleeping, and that could only mean one thing: She didn’t plan to break it off with Todd, and she didn’t want me to stop her.
But where could she have gone? He was still sleeping, she wouldn’t be able to see him until dark, anyway. Besides, she didn’t know where they were staying. Unless...
Unless Todd had been texting her. Oh God, I didn’t even think about that. For all I know he had sent her a Shakespearian sonnet while we were talking last night, which she would have seen when she went to bed. She was still emotionally compromised, it would have been easy for a few well-chosen words from him to turn the entire thing around.
How could I have been so stupid? It was obvious now, of course he would text her like crazy. He did not understand that she was watching what happened outside and according to Mick he was just as obsessed with her as she was him. She might even have been texting him back when I wasn’t in the room. She probably was, now that I thought about it. I groaned out loud, remembering all the times I got up to get us drinks or use the bathroom, or she did, nonchalantly taking her phone with her.
It just hadn’t occurred to me she would be on the fence about him after what she’d seen. Clearly, I’d underestimated her attachment to him. Even though she seemed more like rational Emily, she was still in deep. I knew when we went to bed that she’d been torn, I just assumed she’d sleep on it and realize it was the smart thing to let him go. If nothing else I figured I would have time to talk to her about it more today. I never imagined she would be gone when I woke up.
Snatching my phone from the nightstand I shot off a quick text to Mick, letting him know what happened. Message sent, I hurried to make myself some food while I puzzled out how I would help Emily when I didn’t even know where she was.
A NEW PLAN
MICK DIDN’T REPLY to my text until dusk, naturally. I got dressed in a hurry, then realized I had nowhere to go and nothing to do until dark. My afternoon was spent in a frenzy of nervous cleaning while I thought through and discarded a hundred terrible plans to make Emily tell Todd off.
The cheerful ding of my cellphone notification sent me flying to my nightstand.
Mick: Shit, I thought he was being too happy last night. How soon can you get here?
Lucy: That depends; Where is ‘here’?
Mick: Midnight Sun... Long story, I’ll tell you later. How long?
Lucy: 20 minutes. On my way.
I slid into my leather jacket and was out the door in seconds. My little Toyota practically flew with my foot pressing the pedal to the floor, and I reached Midnight Sun well under the twenty-minute mark. It was still early; the bar hadn’t even opened yet. Just as I was about to text Mick to ask where I should meet him, he appeared out of the shadows beside the building. I parked as close as the lot allowed and met him, shivering with nervous energy.
“Okay, I’m here, what are we going to do?”
“Lucy,” Mick began, “I have an idea, but I don’t know if-”
“It’s probably better than anything I could come up with,” I laughed half-heartedly, “What is it?”
He scratched the back of his neck, and his expression was hesitant. “I’m not sure you’re going to like it.”
“I will like anything that keeps my best friend from being exsanguinated,” I encouraged.
“Seriously, no one uses that word,” Mick groaned. “Will you stop trying to make me feel dumb?”
“Will you get to the point?” I countered.
“Okay,” he sighed, “Just remember I told you you wouldn’t like it.”
I nodded, rolling my eyes for effect.
“Alright. Emily isn’t here yet. According to the band, she went over to another friend’s house to get dolled up and avoid you. She’s supposed to meet Todd here, in the alley behind the building, in about half an hour.”
“Okay...”
“If he... bites... her, we will not be able to get them apart again. You understand?” He stumbled over the word. I imagined he used it for my benefit, avoiding words like ‘mating’.
However, this is exactly what I was afraid of. I was just grateful it hadn’t happened already. “Yes, I understand. So what are we going to do? How are we going to stop them?”
He looked down and kicked the ground, his hands shoved in his pockets. “I will bite her instead.”
“WHAT??? Is this some kind of joke?” I exclaimed. “Because it’s not funny.”
“Shh, calm down, I’m serious. I told you you wouldn’t like it, remember?”
“Well, you were right! I don’t like it! I thought the point was to KEEP her from being bitten, not to turn her into a chew toy!”
“Will you just stop for a minute so I can explain?” His hands were up in a placating gesture, palms forward.
It felt like my blood was about to reach boiling temperature. I closed my eyes and swallowed, my dry mouth an uncomfortable reminder that I was stressed beyond words. Finally, I looked up at Mick and nodded.
“We will keep Todd from arriving on time. I will meet Emily instead, and I will... disguise myself as him. Then, I-”
“Wait, you can do that?” I didn’t know why I was so shocked about that, they were shape-shifting aliens, after all. It’s not like it was the craziest thing I’d heard in the last two days.
“Yes, we can take any form. We rarely imitate each other, it’s... sort of a code we follow. However-”
“Right, because you are all very polite,” I said, my tone mocking, “But desperate times, desperate measures,” I agreed. “Okay, so you’ll disguise yourself as Todd, then what?”
“I will meet Emily, and...” he trailed off awkwardly.
“...And what?”
“I will be the monster she fears,” he said softly. “After I’ve bitten her, I will reveal my true form. She’ll be startled, and confused. It won’t be the same pleasurable experience for her, since my DNA differs from Todd’s, and it will tear her loyalty. I will change back to my ‘human’ form and convince her she wants me, not Todd.”
“Will that work?” I questioned, horrified at the plan we were devising to trick my best friend.
“His connection to her is tenuous, after so many days apart. Once I... bite her, our connection will be fresh. She will be drawn to me, and thus willing to cast off Todd. Of course,” he continued, “Once I’ve convinced her she wants me, we will arrange for them to see each other again so she can tell him she no longer desires him. He will retreat, and we will hopefully just have saved both of their lives.”
There was one thing I didn’t exactly agree with. “But, isn’t that... almost like forcing yourself on her? Since it’s how you mate?” I thought about it for a minute, my stomach churning at the idea. “No, we can’t do that. It’s too horrible. There has to be another way.”
“There is no other way!” Mick was angry now, his green eyes flashing in the dark. He slammed his palm against the bricks of the building. “Don’t you think I’ve considered all the options?”
“Oh really, and you’ve done this so many times then, I take it?” I countered. “You know for a fact that nothing else would work, then? There’s absolutely no way to talk a woman out of it once she’s full of your weird alien mojo...” I trailed off. An idea was brewing in the back of my head, brought on by the phrase I echoed from my talk with Emily last night. “Mick, that’s it!”
He grumbled, “I don’t like your way of describing what I consider a personal and sacred-”
“No, not that. Emily asked me last night how she could know if her feelings for Todd were real, or if it was all just the effect of his ‘weird alien mojo’. That’s it!” I was excited now, bouncing on the balls of my feet.
“I don’t understand,” he responded flatly.
“You don’t need to trick Emily. She was already unsure about her feelings. Instead, you can offer yourself as a test. We tell her that if her feelings for Todd are real, they won’t go away or be conflicted when she’s confronted with your ‘weird alien mojo’. So once she is conflicted, she won’t hesitate to send him packing.” This idea felt right. Emily was a rational creature. She wanted to make rational decisions. Instead of attacking her physically, we could present a compelling counter-argument and a sure-fire way for her to test herself. “The mojo will still work, she tells Todd off, happily ever after.” I beamed, then my face fell slightly as I considered all the implications. “But, won’t there be some form of... attachment between you?”
Mick was solemn. “I imagine there will, for a short time. Obviously it won’t happen again, so it’ll fade quickly. By that point Todd will be gone and we’ll block Emily on his phone, just in case she gets tempted to reach out. He will not pursue her, after she tells him she doesn’t want him.”
“Will that cause problems for you, with him?”
“I hope we can avoid that conversation. If I can convince her not to mention someone else at all, it would be better. Otherwise, yes, he will be... put out to learn she has an attachment to someone else. We pair for life, so it’s strange to even consider interrupting a pairing like that.”
“How ‘put-out’, exactly?”
“Let’s just say, I pray he never finds out who it was, if it comes to that.” He paused, then met my eyes with the strangest expression, almost… sad. “Lucy, are you... alright with this idea?”
“Of course, it was my idea after all,” I shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“No, I mean, the idea of me... biting... Emily. That doesn’t upset you?” His tone was low, his emerald eyes faintly glowing.
“Well, I mean, of course I don’t want her to be bitten any more, but if it’s the only way we can get her away from Todd and save her life, I think it’s worth it, don’t you?” I didn’t follow his train of thought. “Am I missing something?”
“No,” his eyes were dark again, flat in the shadows. “Never mind.”
I knew there was more than he was letting on, but I didn’t have time to decipher it now. Priority number one was Emily.
“Okay, so you said you would keep Todd away. How are you going to do that?”
He avoided my gaze. “Let’s just say the band will have some transportation problems. It won’t keep him away completely, but it will give us a half hour. Let’s hope that’s enough.”
“So... what do we do now?”
“I think we ought to wait here for Emily, don’t you? It won’t be long now. You should try to remain out of sight until she’s close. I’ll stay in the shadows, she’ll assume I’m Todd. Once she’s close enough come out and we’ll tell her the plan.” Mick glanced back at me, his expression closed off. “Any other questions?”
“I suppose not...” I chewed on a fingernail thoughtfully. “I hope this works. I don’t know what I’d do if she-” Headlights flashed on the brick wall beside us. A car pulled in to the lot with a lighted Uber sign in the window. That had to be Emily.
Mick waited for the car to pull away after dropping its occupant in front of the bar then turned to me, an edge of excitement to his otherwise somber tone. “Showtime.”
I SAID YOU WOULDN'T LIKE IT
I DARTED DOWN the alley and around the corner, heart hammering, to hide behind the concrete steps in back of the club. Mick jogged quietly behind me, taking up position at the same corner we’d talked a few nights ago. It was eerily quiet, no traffic cruising the streets between the time when daytime businesses closed and the bars got busy. The confident clack of high heels hitting the pavement in the parking lot announced Emily’s arrival. When she reached the alley her pace faltered, just for a moment, before she continued. The sound of her steps was magnified and echoed strangely between the buildings.
The sound of my blood pumping in my ears was almost loud enough to drown out Emily’s steps. She must have seen, or sensed, Mick’s presence, because she called out softly, “Todd, Baby, is that you?”
At that moment I heard a gasp, a muffled shriek, and a small scuffle. I figured this was the time to show myself, and I stepped out from behind the stairs as Mick half-carried, half-pushed Em around the corner.
One of his hands was over her mouth. His other wrapped around her torso, pinning her arms to her sides. She looked terrified... until she saw me. The fear in her eyes was abruptly replaced with anger, and she glared at me, then shifted her eyes purposefully to Mick before glaring at me again.
“Now, wait a second, Em,” I held my hands out peaceably. “We’re not here to hurt you, or kidnap you, or anything of that nature, okay? And nothing has happened to Todd. He’ll be here, just a little later than expected. We just wanted to talk to you first. Mick and I have a proposal for you, and I knew you’d want to hear it. Mick’s going to let you go, now, so please don’t take off shrieking down the alley, okay?” I gestured to Mick, and he released her slowly.
Once free, she stumbled a few steps away from Mick and took a deep breath. She was wearing a silver mini dress, dressed up to the nines. Aside from a slight smudge on her lipstick she was still flawless.
“Nice, Lu, attacking me in the alley. Seriously, what the fuck is this?” She tugged on her dress, straightening it before tossing her hair behind her back and glaring some more.
“Well, I could talk about best friends who disappear without saying a word to go do exactly what they swore they wouldn’t twelve hours earlier,” I eyed her pointedly, “But I’m not here to have that conversation. Instead, I want to talk about something else you said last night.”
