Love Bites

They both walked outside, and Cory had pulled out the keys to the car unconsciously. Realizing this, he shrugged and said, “Why the hell not. Let’s take the beamer,” and used the remote to open the doors.

They both got in the car and Cory drove them to the hospital. Once there they went upstairs to Lily’s room and found Abby sitting in the room to the now conscious Lily.

Abby was obviously embarrassed at them finding her sitting in the room with Lily. “You both were gone when I got back and after everything that happened, I couldn’t just leave her alone,” Abby explained.

Kayla hurried over to her and gave her a hug, saying, “You’re absolutely right. I would have stayed myself if… if I weren’t having problems I needed Cory for.” She felt stupid and embarrassed herself now. Wanting out of there so bad, she hadn’t thought about leaving Lily alone.

Lily immediately said, “Kayla, I understand, really. I was mostly out of it anyway. You’d have just sat here watching me sleep.”

Inside her head, Kayla heard her add, I understand you needed Cory’s comfort. I don’t fault you for that. Had I been able to leave I’d have gone to him too and you would have had to share. Kayla smiled at her.

Abby got up and said, “Now that you two are here, I’ll go home and get some sleep. Take care, all of you.”

She gave hugs to all three of them, being careful of their various injuries, and started to walk out when Cory stopped her, asking, “You’re not walking home are you? If so, I’ll give you a ride.”

“No, Blaine is down in the van asleep. Call if you need anything,” she said waving goodbye and walking out.

Kayla walked over and closed the room door to give them some privacy.

The doctors had removed the monitors once the sedatives wore off and Lily regained consciousness. She wiggled her arm with the dangling IV line. “It’s so much nicer now I don’t have to concentrate to fool the machines into thinking I’m human. It’s like running a marathon without moving. Your heart going three to four times it’s normal speed for hours on end or being constantly hotter than hell. It slows down my ability to heal.”

“So how are you feeling?” Cory asked her.

“I’ve been better, and I’ve been worse,” she shrugged. Both twin had taken a different hand and she continued. “But it seems that the Hudson’s turn out to be my guardian angels. Taking care of me, making sure I live.” Lily gave both hands a squeeze.

“Lily, I’ve got a question. It’s important,” Cory said seriously.

“Already told you I’ll marry you,” she said.

Cory stopped, his mouth hanging open. Both girls giggled.

Kayla said, “Sorry, she told me that was coming.”

Lily had a sheepish grin on her face but said, “I told you, ask and I’ll answer if I can.”

Cory let go of Lily’s hand and walked around to the other side of the bed. Kayla’s left had was in Lily’s right, so taking hold of Kayla’s wrist, he pulled up the long sleeve of her shirt to bare her arm. “I’m not sure if you saw her arm yesterday,” Cory said to Lily, “but it had a four-inch incision running up it. Now, it’s gone except for a faint red line. And I found what looks like two puncture marks on her neck where I thought I saw blood coming from the other night except they too, now look like ten-year-old scars. Or fang marks.”

Lily looked at the two of them, expectantly. When they remained quiet, she said, “And your question is?”

Kayla spoke up in a whisper. “Cory told me about your offer. Did Dallas take away my choice? Did he make me a vampire?”

Lily laughed deep and stopped, wincing, a hand rising to her cheek but not making it because of her cast. After catching her breath, she said, “Relax sweety, you’re fine. All Dallas did was lick the blood off of you after he cut you and, uh, bit you as is the case from the other night. There’s an enzyme in our blood and saliva that assists in healing. Wounds heal faster and less noticeable. Even though my cheek still hurts, it should be healed, and the bruise gone in a day or two. I need to get out of here before they want to x-ray my arm again. It was a bad break, but the healing would be noticeable on an x-ray even this early. It won’t be back to normal for a week or so, but if they doctors see that, they’ll ask too many questions that can’t be answered easily. My ribs are already better.”

“I could tell from your laughing,” Cory said sardonically, holding his own ribs. “It still hurts to breathe, and my own sister tortured me with hugs this morning.”

A look of concern came over Kayla’s face. “I didn’t know. You should have told me,” she said, hurt.

Still holding her wrist, he put his other arm around her waist and pulled her closer and said, “The pleasantness far outweighed the pain my dear sister. Just don’t punch me for a while.”

He let her go and walked back around to the other side of the bed, taking Lily’s hand once again. “So now that that’s all cleared up,” he said, leaning over, giving Lily a kiss on the forehead, her nose, her lips, then a light brush of his lips on her bruised cheek.

He continued. “I guess I should tell you that Kayla and mom now know the whole story, including your offer. As you probably guessed, Abby doesn’t know anything but Dallas attacked the two of you and is no longer an issue.”

“But she suspects something,” Lily added. “Too many strange things in two days for her. You know her and her suspicious mind.”

“Well, she can speculate all she wants, but unless there’s a reason to tell her…” Kayla let the question hang.

Lily thought about it a second and shook her head no.

“Okay, agreed,” Cory said. “I thought of something else I need to ask you about.”

Lily rolled her eyes at him. “So, ask already.”

“This is, uh, a little uncomfortable for me to ask.”

“Why? After all we’ve been through,” Lily said. “What?”

“Max,” Cory simply said.

Lily looked down at her toes. “Okay, I lied, not anything.”

“Lily… I need to know,” Cory said.

Kayla blanched, realizing what Cory was asking.

Lily squeezed both of their hands, not hard enough to hurt but tight enough that either one would have to fight to get their hand free, but neither tried. She said, “There’s more to it than what it seems.”

“So, tell us,” Kayla said.

“I… I did it for you,” she said, looking at Kayla. “At least to begin with. I confronted him. He offered to take my virginity too. Sai it was all a big game at school. Guys keeping score of how many girls they took. Voluntarily, or by force. I called bullshit; said he was lying. He said he had proof, souvenirs, some hidden videos. I made it sound like the videos excited me, like fetish porn. I told him if they were real and I could watch them and they turned me on, I’d let him take mine too. He agreed. We went to his place, snuck in, and went to his room and he got out his collection. I looked through it while he was getting the DVD setup. I won’t bother to tell you what all he had, but let’s just say I believed him based on that alone.

“He started the DVD and we watched parts and had him fast forward though other parts. I saw a few girls I know from school, some I didn’t. Some willing, others looked to be unconscious. He was being truthful. If he did this kind of thing at sixteen, what type of grown up do you think he would be? He raped girls. Who knows how many? He was sick. I… I just… couldn’t allow him to continue. Knowing you were to be next. I should have gone to the police but… I’ve seen to much in 300 years. If he ever got out, he’d do it again. I had to do something, so I did.” Tears were rolling down her face.

Kayla used her free hand to wipe the tears away and said, “I’d say I forgive you, but there’s nothing to forgive if you ask me. If all of that is true, and I believe you, he got what he deserved. All I can say is for all of the girls who he hurt, and from me, thank you.”

“Well, I guess that about sums it up for me too,” Cory told her.

Lily looked up at both of them, studying each for a little while. “Really? You guys don’t hate me? You’re not afraid I just go around killing people?”

“Do you?” Kayla asked.

“Well, no. I won’t lie and say in 360 years I haven’t done it, but always for a good reason.”

“Okay then. Enough said,” Kayla told her.

Lile continued to look at them, still unbelieving. Cory decided to move on to show her. “Now, getting back to what I was saying. Moms already declined your offer. She said she was too old and didn’t want to go on forever without dad. Kayla?”

Kayla looked down at her feet, studying something not there. “I… I don’t know,” she said finally.

“Kayla,” Lily said, squeezing her hand, “like I told Cory, there’s no rush to decide. Now, tomorrow, a year from now, it’s all the same. If and when you decide, then it’ll be done and over with either way. “Until you figure out what you want, then don’t stress over it. Either way, you decide is okay with me. You won’t hurt my feelings. I will say that I’d like you both around forever with me. And even if you decided you don’t want to, if you change your mind, the offer is open for as long as I’m around.”

Kayla smiled slightly at her as if a weight were lifted off of her.

Lily looked at Cory and said, “What about you?”

Cory sighed and said, “I’m still undecided as well. I do love you, and want to be with you, but I’m not sure I’m ready to live forever.”

Lily giggled and said, “As Kayla was kind enough to point out, forever isn’t necessarily forever.”

“He was an ass, so I took a stab at him,” Kayla retorted, giggling as well.

Cory groaned at their puns. “Enough,” he pleaded.

“Okay, and I understand,” Lily said. “I’m giving you a choice. I wasn’t given a choice, but that’s a story for another time. If you decide you want it, or when you finally decide, just let me know and we’ll go from there. In the meantime, we’ll just be teenagers having fun. How’s that sound?”

Both Cory and Kayla agreed.

“Now what’s this I hear about you paying the hospital bills?” Cory asked.

Lily rolled her eyes again and said, “This is all because of me. It’s the least I can do. And fix or replace everything Dallas destroyed at your place. It’s not like I don’t have the money. How many seventeen-year millionaires do you know?”

Cory decided not to argue. He knew with the ER visit, the x-rays and CAT scans, it was going to cost a small fortune that they couldn’t afford. “I’ll pay you back somehow,” he told her earnestly.

Lily got a wicked gleam in her eyes and said, “Oh, I’m sure I’ll think of something. Hair braiding, full body massages, well you get the hint. You tell your sister about getting to third base yet?”

Cory’s eyes went wide. He had completely forgotten about that as he had more important things to worry about. Not to mention he hadn’t actually gotten to third base.

Cory was still silent as Lily said, “Never mind, I’ll fill her in later.”

Kayla decided o use this time to totally embarrass him by saying, “Did you get to use that condom I gave you big brother?”

Cory only blushed because Kayla giggled.

“Condom?” Lily asked.

“Yeah, I gave him one the other night after the pool party,” Kayla said.

“So, what did you do with it?” Kayla asked him. “Doesn’t sound like you got to use it in the mountains, although that was the plan.”

“Plan?” he asked.

“Yeah, well, we were kind of interrupted by Dallas’ crap, of I probably could have talked him into it… Especially if he had a condom. Damn, did you?” Lily asked.

“Yeah, what did you do with it big brother? You’re playing safe, aren’t you?”

“It’s still in my wallet, and I’m not playing w…”

Lily smiled. “In your wallet? Shit. That asshole Dallas. Ruined what could have been a blissful night.”

Cory was bright red. Kayla decided to add, “What? You can’t be embarrassed. You would have done it with her, and you would have told me, so what’s your issue? And we all heard Abby…”

With that, both girls laughed. After, Lily said, “Speaking of that, there’s someone I want you to meet later Kayla. I don’t normally play matchmaker, but I think you and Toby might get along. He’s, uh, seventeen also. Well, at least he looks seventeen. I won’t surprise you by telling you later on he’s a vampire. But he’s been a friend of mine for many years. Many.”

Cory looked at her, trying to gauge her last statement.

She saw his look and said, “Relax. Not that friendly. More like a brother I never had.” Giggling, she added, “I think I like you jealous. It suits you.”

This caused Kayla to giggle too. Cory put on a mock frown and said, “Women…”

“But you love us,” Lily said.

“Yes, I do,” he said, bending over to kiss her again.

“Don’t forget you have a promise to keep,” she said to him as he straightened.

He looked at er with a raised eyebrow.

“Yesterday you said you’d get me naked and feel me up,” she said innocently.

In front of his sister and the way she said it, Cory turned a bright red.

“Pull my gown up and go for it,” she quipped cheerily.

Cory looked at his sister, at a loss for words. Kayla smiled at him and said, “Might as well, I’ll just hear about it lafter from both of you. Or do you want me to leave and give you some privacy? It’s no problem.”

Cory actually felt himself blush further. He opened his mouth to protest, to say that wasn’t what he said, but nothing came out.

Lily winked at him and nodded to head towards Kayla.

He looked at his sister and she raised her free hand and tapped her temple and smiled. Looking back at Lily, he could tell she was trying to stifle her laughter before saying, “That’ll teach you to call me fat.”

His mouth fell open. Kayla said, “It seems you referred to her gaining weight yesterday when you picked her up. Haven’t I taught you anything?”

Both girls started giggling at that. Cory just sighed. He wasn’t going to win this one. He just sighed and sat back down and didn’t say anything.

Lily convinced the doctors to release her later that day as her arm was set, her cheek wasn’t in need of surgery, her ribs weren’t broken, and the sedatives were out of her system.