Cascades of Moonlight (The Parker Harris Series: Book #1) Read online

  The next day at school, Jackie ran up behind me in the hallway and grabbed my shoulders. I shrieked, and she broke out in a fit of laughter. When she finally stopped laughing, she said, “Quinn said you attacked him yesterday!”

  Shocked, I gasped, “He said, what?!”

  She snickered, “Chillax girlie, he said you planted a hot kiss on him, and he said it was nice and he hoped it happened again.” She beamed at me, but I was stunned by the revelation based on his reaction after the kiss. When it finally dawned on me that he liked me, I smiled and felt all warm inside.

  This boy talk was a new topic for Jackie and me; it was the first time I had a real crush on someone in town. She was so excited; she couldn't wait to hear all the details. I gushed about how cute he was and how he was the best kisser; not that I had anything to base it on other than how I felt. The next thing I knew, Quinn stood in front of me. He had a huge smile on his face. Did he hear everything I told Jackie just now? There was no way because I’d have noticed him coming toward us, and we were pretty quiet.

  At first, I smiled back and then I turned to go in the opposite direction. What? Why did I just do that? Well, I can’t turn around now; I'll look like an idiot. Ugh, I smack myself in the head, Billy Loomis style, and call myself stupid. I kept walking and realized I had gone in the wrong way for my next class. Crap.

  Once I realized it was the wrong direction, I tried to make it seem like it was on purpose by going into the ladies' room. I stayed in there for a few minutes to make it seem legit before heading to class. Entering my next subject, I spotted Quinn sitting there looking right at me, and I stopped dead in my tracks. Give me a break please. Why do I have to live in the smallest town ever?

  The only seat open was the one right next to him, which was appropriate for the way my day was going. I looked up to the ceiling and sarcastically mouthed, 'Thanks for that.' I took a seat next to Quinn and he ignored me. Well, that will work for now. I need time to think, to figure out if I want to pursue a friendship, or more, with him and if I'm going to admit to him my secret; a secret he already knew somehow.

  Mr. Carter, our Algebra teacher, began his lesson, and I took notes as usual when a paper football appeared on my desk. I must have been focused because I never saw anyone leave it.

  I opened it and read to myself, Can I come to your house after school? We need to talk. –Quinn.

  When I finished reading it, I looked up. He looked back at me, and I gave him a nod answering his question. My stomach began to cramp with anticipation.

  The day seemed to last for eternity, probably because I was scared of what would happen this afternoon. When the end of the school day finally arrived, I stood in front of the building waiting on Quinn. He smiled at me, walked over and extended his hand, expecting me to hold it as we walked. My response was to look at him as though he had two heads.

  Trying to act irritated, I said, “You annoy me, you know that?”

  He grinned and said, “I know, and I like you too.” He kissed me on the cheek and took my hand in his.

  One corner of my mouth turned up in a slight smile, even though I tried to fight it. There was an awkward sort of silence as we began the walk to my house. His hand felt odd in mine…and a bit cold. It was fall though, not to mention my body temperature wasn’t exactly normal. A factor of being a wolf is that your body temperature is higher than normal so we don't get cold as easily. Of course, I guess that means he isn’t a wolf if he feels cold to me; he should feel the same as me or warmer. Most of the time when I touch someone else they feel cool in comparison.

  Breaking the silence, and my train of thought, he said, “So, where do we stand now?”

  I stopped walking and let go of his hand. “What do you mean?” He started to speak again, and I put my hand up, interrupting him.

  “On second thought, wait until we get to my house and talk there before you spout off crazy assumptions again. I don’t need people in this town thinking I’m a…well you know,” I said.

  We arrived at my house a few moments later. As I was setting my backpack down, he made his way into the living room. I grabbed us some drinks from the kitchen before joining him. He stood next to the fireplace holding a picture of me with my parents from last year. His face looked solemn and nostalgic as if the picture brought up memories for him somehow. He put it down when he saw me come in the room.

  Setting our sodas down, I turned to him. “Why is it you think I'm a werewolf?” I asked him.

  He nonchalantly said, “Your smell.”

  Instead of letting him add to that, my face crinkled up, and I exclaimed, “You’re saying that I smell like a dog? Wow, you know how to sweet talk a girl.”

  He walked toward me, cupped my face in his hands and said, “No, your smell is not bad, it’s quite nice.”

  He leaned down and breathed me in deeply, which was a little awkward. I’ve never had anyone sniff me. “It attracts me to you, but that's how it works with us,” he continued.

  As I turned my gaze upward, our eyes met. My breathing sped up with his hands on my face. He was so close to me I wanted him to kiss me. It amazed me how much I wanted it. Breathily, I whispered, “With us?”

  He nodded and in a low voice he explained, “Vampires and werewolves are attracted by scent because it allows us to find one another. I'm attracted to your scent, and that is how you lure me in to kill me.”

  My eyes were closed, lost in the fantasy of his next move, and it took me a moment to realize what he had said. When his words registered at last, I backed away from him quickly, knocking his hands off my face.

  “You’re a… a vampire?” I screeched, stumbling backwards. In a flash, he had me in his arms, and his lips were on mine. I melted for a moment, and all my thoughts evaporated. The taste of his lips, his arms around my waist, that's all I could think of at this moment. I draped my arms around his neck and pressed myself closer to him.

  I regained my sanity once more and shoved him away. “Stay away from me!” I cried out. He looked wounded by my rejection, but I didn’t care at this moment. My hand went to my mouth in disgust of what I just did. I couldn’t believe I kissed a dead guy.

  He stayed on the other side of the room, but he said to me, “I'm not going to harm you, Parker; it’s the furthest thing from my mind. In fact, the moment I saw you I wanted to know more about you.” He paced the room, keeping his distance. “It’s true; I'm a vampire. Contrary to popular belief, we're not all bad. I don’t feed on humans, not anymore. I can control myself, my hunger. I trained myself how to live like a normal human being. Well, as normal as I can be; drinking animal blood is the only thing I do that is inhuman. I didn’t want to be this, just like you didn’t want to be a werewolf. Sometimes you have to adjust to the hand that you're dealt.”

  He stopped and looked at me with a face filled with pleading. “I know you felt something when you kissed me, the same thing I felt, passion. It’s not a likely pairing I know that, believe me. We're supposed to be enemies, but I can’t help it, I feel different toward you. I could never hurt you. The feelings I'm having, they scare me too.”

  Tears filled my eyes; I'm not sure what came over me at that moment. My feelings were so muddled inside, whether it was fear or sadness, I couldn’t stop crying. Quinn was careful as he approached me and reached his hand out. I backed away and begged, “Leave, please…just go.” At first he stood there bewildered. After a moment, he walked past me and out the door turning back to look at me one more time.

  When the door closed, I threw my glass across the room, and it smashed into a million pieces against the fireplace mantle. I screamed in frustration and paced the floor, with my hands grabbing at my hair. How could I have not known he was a vampire? It all made sense to me now. I had to invite him officially into my house; vampires are not allowed into a private residence without an invitation by the residing human. I thought h
e was flirting with me that day, but it turned out he had to find a way to get me to say it. Also, his comment about how eating the meatloaf was a front, vampires can eat food; they don’t have to in order to survive.

  This invitation meant he could come into my house at any time, and I have put my family in danger. In all honesty, I didn’t think Quinn would hurt me or my parents, but I couldn't be positive. Now I guess I know how he was gone so fast yesterday and how he heard me talking to Jackie. Story of my life, I swear. Now I'm hot for a vampire? Great. I can’t even tell Jackie because she doesn’t know that vampires or werewolves exist. Now it's another secret I have to keep from everyone I care about. I flopped myself down on the couch and laid my head back, heaving a great sigh.

  The next two hours I thought over what I would do next, how I could stay away from Quinn. I paced the floor so much that I probably wore a hole in the carpet. The phone rang, saving me from my thoughts, and it was Jackie. Apparently she dropped in on Mitchell and Quinn studying. When she asked Quinn about our afternoon, he clammed up. So, naturally she was curious, and I told her I would have to tell her later because I didn’t feel like talking about it tonight. She sounded worried, and I felt bad, but I wasn’t sure how to deal with this yet, and I didn’t know how to explain it to Jackie without telling her everything.

  Jackie said she would talk to me tomorrow, I asked for Quinn before she hung up. I heard her call for him, and when I heard him on the line, I froze. I didn’t have a clue what to say; I wasn’t even sure why I asked for him.

  “Parker, are you there?” I wish his voice didn’t affect me so much. I heard him say to Jackie, “I think she hung up.”

  I found my voice. “I’m here, Quinn. I need to see you…not tonight though,” I added hurriedly. “Tomorrow, meet me at the park for lunch, the one by school. Can you do that?”

  Quinn responded with genuine elation, “Of Course, I’ll be there, I’m glad you want to talk. I'd like a chance to explain things.”

  I ended the call without another word. Now I have to sit and figure out what I am going to say to him at the park tomorrow. What questions will I ask? I still can’t process the fact that I kissed a vampire…and I liked it. What is wrong with me? That seems to be a question I ask myself a lot lately.

  My mom came home from work at some point. I was lying on the couch lost in thought. I was in a daze, and I don’t know how long she was there before I realized it. “Parker, sweetie, what do you want for dinner?” she asked.

  Eating was the last thing on my mind, especially with my stomach in knots over this afternoon. “I’m not hungry mom. I'm going to my room to read…Goodnight.” Pushing myself up off the couch, I wandered into the kitchen, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and headed toward the stairs.

  Before I reached the steps, my dad walked in the door set his briefcase down and said, “Hey Princess, you ok?”

  I faked a yawn and said, “I’m just tired.” I hugged and kissed him goodnight too. Shutting the door, I changed into pajama pants and paired it with a red tank top, my favorite lounging attire. Flouncing down on the bed, I reached over to my bookcase and picked up my copy of Twilight to read for at least the tenth time. If only vampires were sparkly and sweet like Edward. If there were any like him, I’d never met them. Although at first I thought maybe Quinn was going to be the romantic love I’d been dreaming about, especially after our first kiss.

  I read this book shortly after I learned that vampires were real. It made me hopeful that they weren’t all as bad as what I had read. I knew it was fiction, but it still helped me to get lost in the fantasy of it all. Maybe Quinn was one of those good guys…maybe he really is different. Quinn has had plenty of chances to hurt me, and he never laid a hand on me. We were alone in my house, and he has an open invitation to come and go as he pleased. Let’s hope he isn’t sneaking into my room at night watching me sleep.

  Yeesh! I mean, it’s romantic to watch someone sleep, as long as they invited you to be there. I’ve been Team Edward all the way, but even I was a bit creeped out at his stalkerish ways at times. Although waking up to Rob Pattinson standing in my room, not the worst thing that could happen. I shut the book and put it back on the shelf. My thoughts are moving way off topic, and I can’t get it in my mind that Quinn is good. After all, I'm a werewolf, and I'm supposed to want to kill him. So why is it that all I can think about is kissing him? Some werewolf I am.

  To take my mind off things I got up out of bed and got on the computer. I typed in the search, wolvesmatch.com. No, seriously, I researched the differences of vampire and werewolves again, in case I had missed something before. I guess I was desperate to find the vampire story of Cinderella, maybe Vampirella, or something to make me feel like it wasn’t completely hopeless to care for Quinn. There was the obvious; Vampires are cold natured, Werewolves are hot natured.

  Werewolves can kill vampires with a single bite. Once they bite a vampire it causes an infection to invade their body, and they disintegrate almost instantly. Silver kills werewolves; which was one thing the movies got right except it has to be straight to the heart. If the silver doesn’t go straight through the heart, it makes a werewolf violently ill. If enough of it reaches the heart, it will kill them in time. I can’t even wear silver jewelry because it will get into my skin and make me sick. Some of the theories I have tested, such as the silver jewelry, and found to be true. It goes without saying I haven’t tried to shoot myself in the heart to test that theory, not suicidal at this point at least.

  A superior vampire, or master, can kill another vampire. That would be a vampire that has been alive more than 1000 years. I have never met one that I know of and, from what I have heard, I don’t want to. I’m pretty sure Quinn isn’t a master vampire; he seems a bit old-fashioned at times, but nothing that drastic. A stake through the heart will work to kill a vampire; it just doesn’t often happen because they are so quick and strong that no one can get that close to them. Also, most people don’t know they exist. Oh and that whole creature of the night thing, a myth. They can walk in the sun, but I wouldn't advise on sunbathing. Vampires should limit the amount of time in the sun because their skin is so fragile; they are dead after all.

  Most Vampires only come out at night because it is easier to prey on their victims in the dark. They also have to wear sunglasses when exposed to the sun because of their eyes. The sun causes their eyes to redden and dry out. I haven’t seen it personally; it does explain why Quinn was wearing sunglasses in the classroom on his first day. He must have needed to give his eyes time to adjust to being inside. Another difference, a big one, vampires can live thousands of years, whereas werewolves only live several hundred at the most. If some crazy turn of events happened and Quinn and I fell in love, we could never be 'together forever' because our forever is much different.

  Well, so much for taking my mind off things. I turned the computer off and lay down. I couldn’t stop thinking about Quinn. I spent most of the night tossing and turning. One minute I would be dreaming about romance and love with him and the next he was trying to kill me. About two am my door opened, “Princess, you awake?” my dad asked softly. I turned to face him, and he came over, turned on my bedside lamp and sat beside me on the bed. “What’s wrong, Princess? I can hear you tossing and turning from my room.”

  He patted my hair and brushed it out of my face. “I’m ok daddy, just had a hard day at school and had a little trouble sleeping.”

  He offered to get me a glass of milk, I told him I was fine, and he kissed my head. "Well, try to get some sleep. I love you. Goodnight." He turned the light back out and walked out, shutting the door quietly.

  My dad has always been a very light sleeper. I guess it’s a good thing that I'm not so much of a rebel that I try sneaking out or anything like that because he would catch me every time. I sneeze, and he comes to make sure I don’t need medicine. He has called me Princess since I was a l
ittle girl. I know that seventeen was a bit old to still go by that nickname, but it made me feel special. I've always had a good relationship with my parents, which is why I don’t want to ruin that or make them look at me differently. If my dad knew what I was, I doubt he would still call me Princess.

  I know that eventually they're going to realize something is different about me. Werewolves don’t age very quickly; I will still look twenty when I am turning one hundred. Fantastic, right? Hard to keep a secret from people though when you look young like that, only so far plastic surgery can go, and most people won’t believe that is why you look so young. I’ve known for a while that in about ten or fifteen years, I will have to disappear from my parent’s life, or tell them the truth, whichever I can handle. At this point, I am terrified of both choices.

  There was no way I would get back to sleep now that my mind was racing again about talking to Quinn. Finally, I came to the conclusion that it may be a good thing and that I shouldn’t be freaking out so bad. Quinn being a vampire meant I was not alone in being different and that I could talk to someone about my curse. This could be the best thing that ever happened to me. How could I be sure that I could trust him though, especially around my friends, what if he hurt them? Sigh. Back at square one with no clue what to do and if this was a bad thing or a good thing. I guess I will find out tomorrow. I must have finally drifted off because the next thing I know there was sun shining through my window.

  Chapter Five