• tab Simultaneously, Sam and I spun around to find the source of the voice. It seemed that everyone else had as well.
    tab “Oh hell,” Sam said, tightening his grip on my hand as he jumped out of his seat. The girls beside us looked around, just like everyone else was.
    tab “I’ll kill you!” the girl screamed, running across the food court at us, eyes locked on Sam.
    tab “Dammit, it’s that girl,” I hissed. I had never been very athletic, but I was jumping tables and dodging people well enough to fool anyone. Sam was running behind me with his fingers laced into mine. I thought fast about places where she couldn’t possibly go to find us, and the first thing I saw was the boys bathroom. I dragged Sam inside and practically collapsed against the counter. Sam, who was breathing harder than I, leaned up against me, his chin on my shoulder. It was literally a moment of calm before her scream met our ears again.
    tab “Hold it, crazy,” a deep voice said. “You can’t go in there. You’ve caused enough mayhem today, time to go.”
    tab “You sonofabitch! Let me in there!” she screamed, her fist pounding on the door. I wrapped my arm around Sam’s waist and we both waited in anticipation, staring at the door. Her yells of rage got quieter, and when they faded to silence again we both let out the breath we’d been holding and slouched back.
    tab “How about we go to my house this time? I know it’s not as impressive as yours, but at least she doesn’t know where it is,” Sam said, hugging me tightly. I nodded breathless and wrapped my arm around his waist as we cautiously left the bathroom.
    tab “Oh, hold on,” Sam said, pausing outside a tattoo and piercing shop. “You promised.”
    tab I glanced into the shop and saw a well built man covered with tattoos and a few noticeable piercings. “Do I have to?” I asked in a hopeful voice.
    tab “Yup, come on, Hound is cool,” Sam told me, pulling me into the shop. “Hey, Hound!”
    tab Hound held up a glove-covered finger as he finished off the tattoo on a boy’s shoulder. He rubbed it down with a cotton ball coated in some substance and plastered a bandage over the tattoo. “All done, Kaine,” Hound said, helping the boy off the chair. The boy couldn’t be more than a year older than us, and he eyed us critically as he followed Hound to the counter. He counted out the change for the boy and muttered a “don’t touch the rings” to the boy who was running his fingers over various piercing rings.
    tab “So Sam, what do you want done this time? Another knot on your back? A second lip ring?” he asked as he handed Kaine his change. Kaine shot Sam a jealous look when he heard what Sam had had done already, as though it was a contest.
    tab “It’s not my turn this time, Hound,”--Sam patted my back--“Its Ren’s turn for a mutilation.” Hound let out a growl-like laugh.
    tab “Well, any friend of Sam’s is a friend of mine. Wha’d’ya want?” he asked with a warm smile. I made note of the fang he had.
    tab “Eh, I’ve been trapped into getting my nipples pierced,” I muttered. He laughed again.
    tab “Then take off your shirt and take a seat over there,” he said, washing his hands and snapping on a fresh pair of gloves. Sam pulled up a second chair and watched as I handed him my sweater, shirt and scarf.
    tab I sat down in the chair and closed my eyes. I knew that Sam was staring, but I didn’t open my eyes for anything.
    tab “No piercings or tattoos, huh? Virgin skin,” Hound said, rubbing something cold over my skin. “Well you’re gonna’ want to make sure you take good care of these or you’re gonna swell up.”
    tab I nodded and then tuned out their conversation. I hardly noticed when the clamp went on, but boy did I feel it when the needle went through.
    tab “Holy f-” I started to yell, the rest muffled by Sam’s hand when he pressed it over my mouth. He laughed and took it away and I looked down at my chest, staring at the silver needle that was in my n****e. “Good god. . . .” I muttered.
    tab “Pick a ring,” Hound said, a broad, lopsided grin on his face as he held out a few different packages of rings and studs for it.
    tab “Pink,” I said softly, looking away again while he changed his gloves and then pulled out the needle to replace it with the pink hoop. He sprayed it with H2Ocean then changed his gloves yet again.
    tab “Right one done, one more to go,” he said, biting back a chuckle as he got a new needle out. I groaned and slouched back, reaching for Sam’s hand this time. Hound went through the process again and I managed to not curse this time, and I felt proud of myself when he finished cleaning up the second piercing. “There, you’re all done. How do you feel?”
    tab “I feel like I should probably kill Sam for this,” I said, smiling. “Though I kind of like them.”
    tab Hound laughed again. “Good, good. Hope I’ll see you here again. Sam, m’boy, I see you’re still wearing that ring I gave you,” he noted, pointing at Sam’s lip.
    tab “Yup,” Sam said, fiddling with it with his tongue again.
    tab Hound nodded. “Looks good,” he said, his mood changing. “Anyway, ‘cause you’re a friend of Sam’s, I’m not gonna’ charge you for the piercing.”
    tab “Thank you,” I said, wary of his tone. Sam grinned.
    tab “See ya’, Hound,” he said, handing me my clothes as we left the store. “How do you feel?” he asked me.
    tab “Rather sore, finding it a little hard to move,” I replied, resting my hand on his hip. He chuckled.
    tab “You should try getting a tattoo, I couldn’t do much for a week. Anyway, lets go grab some stuff from your house and head over to mine, ‘kay?” he suggested, wrapping his arm around me as well.
    tab “Sure,” I said. We walked mostly in silence back to my house. Father was home early today.
    tab “Ren, where have you been?” he called.
    tab “The mall. I’m going to spend a while at Sam’s. That crazy girl knows where we live,” I said as we pulled off our shoes.
    tab “Could you come up here for a minute?” he called back to me. I waved Sam down to my room and then made my way up the very short flight of stairs to the living room, where father was seated on the couch like always.
    tab “What is it?” I asked.
    tab “While you’re there, I want you to talk to Sam’s father. Tell him I said “Its time” and he’ll get it. You can stay with Sam as long as you please, just keep me updated,” he said. When I started to walk away, he added: “Sam’s a good guy, take good care of him.” I smiled at him and went down to my room and hugged Sam from behind while he was going through my closet.
    tab He started slightly. “Oh, hey,” he said softly. “What’d your dad want?”
    tab I rested my chin down on his shoulder and smiled at him. “He told me that he’s fond of you and that I should take good care of you. I think he’s OK with us being, well, a thing,” I said, leaning against him slightly. He blushed.
    tab “Oh. . . . That’s good. So, I grabbed a bunch of clothes and threw them into a bag, your makeup as well. Just gotta get your toothbrush and we can go,” he said with a slight stutter. I hugged him a bit tighter and then let so go we could grab the last few things and head off to his house.
    tab Snow had started to fall harder than before, and Sam looked so cute with snowflakes stuck to his long lashes. It was hard to concentrate on walking when I kept glancing over at him. The soft sunlight made his face glow more than it seemed like it was from just how happy he was. He stared up at the sky with a smile on his face, his hand in mine swaying back and forth. He noticed me staring and glanced over at me from the corner of his eye.
    tab “What are you staring at?” he asked, still smiling.
    tab I paused. “You, you look. . . .” I couldn’t come up with a word to describe him. He smiled and stood on the first step up to his house to put him at eye level with me, then stretched his arms out on either side of my neck and kissed me softly for a few seconds. I took his hips in my hands and pulled him close, kissing back. My face was red but I definitely enjoyed the kiss. That meant. . .
    tab “C’mon,” he said softly with a gentle smile on his face, pulling me inside by my hand. I, of course, followed along without hesitation. “Why are you walking behind me?” he asked, peering over his shoulder at me with his hand still in mine.
    tab “Just. . . . admiring the view,” I said with a chuckle, watching his face grow red. He walked me up to his room and kept the lights dim.
    tab “I, uh, think its a bit early to get intimate,” he said softly, taking my other hand as well and staring at the floor.
    tab “Oh good, you had me worried. I’m still new to this,” I said with a reassuring smile and a kiss to his nose. “Can I give you a massage, then?”
    tab Sam nodded and pulled off his shirt while I lit a few incense around his room.When I turned around to face his bed--which was in the middle of the wall--he was already on his stomach with candles lit on both bedside tables. I sat down on the bed beside him and swung my leg over his to start rubbing his lower back.
    tab “Hound really did do a nice tattoo,” I noted as my hands worked over the twisting vines that had been marked into his skin.
    tab “Yeah. He designed it just for me, nobody else will have one like it,” he whispered, looking calm. As I moved further up his back, I had to sit further up on him. It was hard to keep my mind focused on massaging him and off of the things that I wanted to do to him with him so helpless.
    tab “Sam, I’m home!” his dad yelled from the kitchen.
    tab “s**t,” Sam muttered, gently pushing me off him. He pulled on a black tank top and motioned for me to follow along as we went downstairs.
    tab “Hey, Mike,” Sam said, leaning against the door frame.
    tab “Would it kill you to call me ‘dad’?” he asked with a laugh, popping the cap off a beer. “Ren! Good to see you!” he said, clapping me on the shoulder. I winced, but smiled back. Mike was cool. He was really laid back and was more like the cool older brother that everyone wanted. He had long blonde hair that he kept tied back. He worked at the aquatic zoo here, caring for and training the whales.
    tab “So, can Ren stay for a few days? Some creepy chick is pretty much stalking him now,” Sam said, grabbing two root beers from the fridge. Mike shrugged and took another swig of his beer, eyeing the doorway behind me cautiously.
    tab “Hey, Sam. Do me a favour and go get my cell phone from the truck. I think I dropped it in there,” he said firmly. Sam put down the can and walked outside.
    tab “Father said “It’s time,” said you’d know what it means,” I said quickly. He nodded.
    tab “Sam, and everyone on my side of the family, are necromancers. I don’t know why but Sam got more of that gene than I did, and its causing him to be very attractive to a certain spirit. A very persistent one at that. There was this girl once, looked like a child with long black hair. She was a werewolf, the alpha. She was the alpha over all werewolves, but she died. She was eighteen--looked about ten--when she was tied to her bed and burned alive.
    tab “Because Sam is probably the closest thing to a full-blooded necromancer alive these days, she’s going after him. She wants to use him to get back to this side--to be tied to a body again. That cut on Sam’s arm was from her, she’s attacking his dreams. I know what you are, and its time for Sam to know too. Keep him safe, I won’t be around much longer,” Mike explained. The front door slammed, perfect timing it seemed.
    tab “Here,” Sam said, tossing Mike his phone and taking my hand again.
    tab “Thanks. I’m going to go get some pizza for dinner, I’ll bring that and a movie home. Be back in a bit,” he said, grabbing his jacket and leaving the house.
    tab Sam waited for the door to close. “He asks me to go to his truck and get his phone, then he goes out there anyway? What’s up with that?” he said, guiding me back up to his room.
    tab I was silent, going over how to go about telling him.
    tab “Are you OK?” he asked, putting the root beer down to duck low enough to see my face. I blinked a couple of times.
    tab “Uh, oh yeah, I’m fine. C’mere,” I said as I pulled off his tanktop again, removing my shirt as well. Incense and candles still lit, I pulled him gently onto his bed and pressed up against his back. “I need to tell you something, but I need you to promise me that you won’t do anything reckless,” I whispered in his ear from behind him, admiring the effects of the candle’s orange glow on his skin in the process. Sam nodded. “You wanted to know who the supernatural you know already is. Its time for you to know, even though it has only been a day since I told you that. Love, the supernatural is right here with you, lying in your bed and holding you close.”
    tab Sam was silent for a minute. “You’re a supernatural. . . .?” he breathed. “What kind. . . .”
    tab “Gancanagh. Does it shock you?” I asked him calmly, brushing my fingers over his cheek.
    tab “Does that mean what I feel about you is fake? Just your drug affecting me or something?” he tensed up.
    tab “No, it does not affect you at all. Everything you feel about me is your own emotions, nothing I have forced you to feel,” I whispered, feeling him relax a little in my arms. “Are you angry with me?”
    tab He paused. “No, I’m not. Somehow I feel like I always knew this,”--he tensed up again--“would you get out of my house!” he yelled suddenly, sitting up and pointing angrily at the empty doorway. It made me feel angry and helpless that I couldn’t see her. I placed my hand on his chest and gently pulled him towards me, then turned him around and held his face close to my neck.
    tab “There’s another thing you need to know. You’re a necromancer, just like your father. That girl is trying to get back to the human world through you. Please, please stay close to me. I don’t want you to get hurt. Listen to nothing she says,” I whispered to him. How am I supposed to protect him when I can’t even see what he does. . . .
    tab “So. . . . I’m special?” he asked, holding me tightly. I nodded and he remained silent.
    *
    tab It was now Tuesday and neither of us had been at school. Sam was lounging on the couch watching Saw four and I had just got out of the shower. I walked into the kitchen with nothing on, running a towel through my hair.
    tab “Hey, Sam? Are the chocolate-covered peanuts yours?” I called, eyeing the bowl of them on the counter.
    tab “Mike must have left them for you, I’m allergic,” he called back, followed by a dark laugh as another person was brutally murdered.
    tab I shrugged and grabbed the bowl, wrapping the towel around my waist as I ate a few. Slowly, things started to twist and change. They were beautiful at first, such as the orange wine glass. It stretched upwards and shimmered wonderfully before my eyes, but soon things twisted even more. I pressed my hands on the fridge and my blood-red finger nails peeled back, blood pouring out of my fingers like mad. I screamed and fell backwards onto the linoleum floor and to my demise, leeches made their way up my skin. I thrashed but found myself to heavy to lift off the ground, so I started to pick them off. They tore out chunks of my flesh and I screamed in agony.
    tab “Ren!” Sam yelled, standing in the doorway. I turned my wide eyes towards him, then screamed louder. There was a large purple snake around his neck prepared to bite, and I cried. And then, I blacked out.