Night World : Secret Vampire Chapter 16

You bring in got to be kidding, Poppy say.Phil full gaped.No. Im abruptly serious. Youre witches of thesecond strain. Remember what I told you?thither are the kind of witches that know their hereditary pattern and get trained-and the kind that dont.Who ripe hold up powers. And humanes counter that kind-Psychics throng chorused with her. Telepaths.Clairvoyants, he went on alone. There was something in his voice between express e drive and crying.Poppy, thats what youare. Thats wherefore you picked up on thought transference so quickly. Thats why you had clair voyant dreams.And thats why Phil comprehend me, Poppy express.Oh, no, Phil utter. Not me. Come on.Phil, youre twins, James said. You pretend the identical ancestors. Pace it, youre a witch. Thats why I couldnt control your mind.Oh, no,Phil said. No.He flopped rear in his seat. No,he said again, provided more weakly.solely whose aspect do we get it from? Poppy wondered.Dads. Of course. The voice from the backse atwas re eachy faint.Well, that would seemlogical, but-Its the truth. Dont you remember how Dad wasalways talking roughly seeing weird things? Havingdreams n head things ahead they happened? And,Poppy, he heard you yell in yourdream. When you were c everying for James. James heard it, and I heardit, and Dad heard it, too.Then that settles it. Oh, and it explains other(a)things ab place all of us-all those times weve had whole tones astir(predicate) things-hunches, whatever. Even you perk up hunches, Phil.I had one that James was creepy, and I wasright.Phill&8212And perchance a few others, Phil said fatalistically.I knew it was James driving up this afternoon. Ithought I just had a fine ear for car engines.Poppy was shivering with delight and astonishment, but she couldnt quite understand James.James was absolutely beaming. change with unbelieving elation that she could feel interchange fit streamers andfireworks in the air. What, James?Poppy, dont you see? James actually po undedthe steering wheel in joy. It means that all the same beforeyou became a vampire, youwere a darkness Person.Asecret witch. You have every right to know about the wickedness foundation. You be want thither.The world turned top side down and Poppy couldnt breathe. At last she whisper. Oh . . .And webelong together. naught offer separate us.We dont have to hide.OhPoppy whispered again. Then she said,James, pull the car over. I sine qua non to kiss you.When they were in motion once more, Phil said, precisely where are you ii going to go now? Poppy contributet flummox home.I know, Poppy said softly. She had accepted that.There was no going back for her the old life wasover. Nothing to do but embodiment a new one.And you female genitaliat just ramble around from place toplace, Phil said, doggedly persistent.We wont, Poppy said calmly. Well go to Dad.It was perfect. Poppy could feel James think, Ofcourse.They would go to her father, the always-late, always-impractical, always-affectionate parent. Herfather the witch who didnt know he was a witch.Who probably thought he was spook when his powersacted up.Hed interpret them a place to stay, and that was all they needed, really. That and each other. The whole Night World would be open to them, whe neer theywanted to explore it. peradventure they could come backand visit Thea sometime. peradventure they could dance atone of Thierrys parties.If we feces findDad, that is, Poppy said, in love by sudden alarm.You can, Phil said. He flew out last night, buthe left an address. For the first time. possibly somehow he knew, James said.They rode for a while, and then Phil cleared his throat and said, You know, I just had a thought. I dont want any part of the Night World, you understand-I dont carewhat my heritage is. I just wantto live akin a human-and I want everybody to bedear on that.Were dear, Phil, James interrupted. Believeme. Nobody in the Night World is going to force youin. You can live like a human all you want as long as you avoid Night community and keep your mouth shut.Okay. Good. but heres my thought. I still dontapprove of vampires, but it occurs to me that maybetheyre not as completely bad as they seem. I mean,vampires dont treat their food any worse than cosmos do. When you think of what we do to oxen at least they dont breed military personnel in pens.I wouldnt bet on it, James said, suddenly grim.Ive heard rumors about the olddays.You always have to argue, dont you? But my other thought was that youre part of Nature, and Nature just is what it is. Its not always pretty, but well, its Nature, and in that respect it is. He wound upglumly, Maybe that doesnt receive any sense. It makes sense to me, James said, all told serious. And-thanks. He paused to look back at Philinacknowledgment. Poppy felt up a sting slowly her look. If he admits were part of Nature, she thought,then he doesnt turn over were unnatural anymore.It meant a lot.She said, Well, you kno w, Ivebeen thinking, too.And it occurs to me that maybe there are otherchoices for feeding besides just jumping on humans when they dont behave it. Like animals. I mean, isthere any cerebrate their blood wont work?Its not the same as human blood, James said.But its a possibility. Ive fed on animals. cervid aregood. Rabbits are okay. Possums stink.And then there moldiness be somepeople whod be unstrained donors. Thea was a donor for me. We could admit other witches.Maybe, James said. He grinned suddenly. Iknew a witch back home who was verywilling. Nameof Gisele. But you couldnt ask them to do it everyday, you know. Youd have to give them time to recover.I know, but maybe we could alternate. Animals one day and witches the conterminous. Hey, maybe even werewolves on weekendsId rather bite a possum, James said.Poppy socked him in the arm. The point is, maybewe dont have to be horrible bloodsucking monsters.Maybe we can be decentbloodsucking monsters.Maybe, James said quietly, ne ar wistfully.Hear, hear, Phil said very seriously from theback.And we can do it together, Poppy said to James.He took his eyes off the road to smiling at her. Andthere was nothing wistful about his gaze. Nothingcool or mysterious or secretive, either.Together, he said out loud. And mentally headded, Icant wait. With that telepathy of yoursyourealize what we can do, dont you?Poppy stared, then felt an effervescent bursting charge that almost shot her out of the car. Oh, James-do youthink?Im certain. The all thing that makes exchanging blood so especial(a) is that it enhances telepathy. But you dont needany enhancementyou little dreamer.Poppy sat back to try and still her heart.They would be able to join their minds again. Anytime they wanted. She could imagine it, be sweptinto Jamess mind, feeling him surrender histhoughts to hers.Merging like both drops of water. Together in a waythat humans could never know.I cant wait, either,she told him. Ithink Im going tolike being a witch .Phil cleared his throat. If you guys want someprivacy.. .We cant have any, James said. Not with youaround. Obviously.I cant patron it, Phil said through his teeth.Youre the ones whore yelling.Were not yelling. Youre snooping. two of you give it a rest, Poppy said. But she felt warm and glowing all over. She couldnt resistadding to Phil, So, if youre willing to give us someprivacy, that means you dedicate James alone withyour sister.I didnt saythat.You didnt have to, Poppy said.She was happy.It was very late the next day. Almost midnight, infact. The witching hour. Poppy was standing in a place shed thought shed never see again, her mothers bedroom.James was waiting distant with a carload of stuff,including one rotund suitcase of Poppys CDs, smuggledfor them by Phil. In a few minutes James and Poppywould be heading for the East Coast and Poppysfather.But first, there was something Poppy had to do.She glided quietly toward the king-size bed, fashioning no more noise than a shado w, not disturbing either of the sleepers. She halt by her mothersstill form.She stood looking down, and then she mouth withher mind.I know you think this is a dream, Mom. I know youdont believe in spirits. But I had to tell you that Im allright. Im all right, and Im happy, and even if you dontunderstand, please try to believe. just this once, beieve in what you cant see.She paused, then added, Ilove you, Mom. I alwayswill.When she left the room, her mother was stillasleep&8212andsmiling.Outside, Phil was standing by the Integra. Poppyhugged him and he hugged back, hard.Goodbye, she whispered. She got into the car.James stuck his hand out the window toward Phil.Phil took it without hesitation.Thank you, James said. For everything.No, thank you.Phil said. His smile and his voicewere both shaky. Take care of her. . . and of yourself. He stepped back, blinking.Poppy blew him a kiss. Then she and James droveoff together into the night.