Peach gave me a very dramatic hug. I winced. Her eyes drifted admiringly over Jordan and I could see her hands fidget uneasily with her phone. I roll my eyes. She was fighting the urge to take photo shots. And was not winning. Clearly.
"Hi" Peach's smile is broad and shiny and her phone camera clicks twice while she mutters with an excited squeak "Forgive me, I just can't help it". I didn't smile back.
"Meet my boyfriend, Harmon" She announced gaily "Harmon, this is Night Carter and her boyfriend Jordan Files"
I nearly choked. Jordan seemed perfectly fine with this outrageous introduction because he plastered a huge smile on his stupid face . I fumed silently.
Jordan Files clearly needs no introduction because Harmon is just as starstruck as Peach. I watch him try so hard to contain his feverish excitement in a pose of masculine apathy but I can hear the words "Jeez. It's fucking Moon Sol" as he whispers to Peach.
I shook Harmon's outstretched hand. It is ice cold. Like a corpse. With the broadest smile, he turns his hand to Jordan who surprisingly looks him over coldly.
"Peach" Jordan says with a smirk "Are you still going out with this vampire who abandoned you when the Corvoth wanted to eat you up" He shook his head with an unconcealed look of disgust.
Peach flushed crimson. Harmon frowned and looked like he would pounce on Jordan. I stared at Jordan, wondering how on earth someone could look so normal until he opened his mouth and unveiled his arrogance for the whole wide world to see.
"Oh please" Peach said finally, although part of her face still wore the marks of embarrassment "What are you guys doing here anyways. Planning to elope or something"
I opened my mouth to correct the outrageous impression Peach had of me and Jordan but my words died in my throat when Jordan said flatly "No. Planning to save your ass once more Incase this Tishian Vamp disappears on you again. "
Harmon bared his fangs and snapped "Pretty loud for a werewolf, ain't you?"
"Yes" Peach said apologetically , her pink hair shiny beneath the bulb .
"Well cool it, fur punk. This ain't the stage for Solstice " Harmon looks at Jordan grimly.
"I wish it was" Jordan smirks "You would have been fried by now "
"Moira's son" Harmon's fang glimmered. "Probably explains a lot"
The name landed like a trigger.
"Leave my mother out of this" Jordan was up in a flash and at Harmon's throat. . The restaurant shuddered as the air shifted, wolf and Vamp ready to tear each other apart.
A fat, flustered bartender stepped between them , wise enough to foresee an impending explosion. Peach was crying, clinging to Harmon intensely. I stayed rooted, eyes darting between fang and claw, reminding myself that I was the idiot who had agreed to go to lunch with a werewolf. Lunch in a strange town crawling with supernaturals.
I should have just stayed at The Academy, I whined softly.
The bartender piloted Peach and Harmon to another table and gave a tired sigh. I guessed this was not the first time he was witnessing something of this sort. The ageless antagonism between werewolves and vampires were nothing new. And if Tish was massively populated by none humans, what then was the bartender.
A werewolf? A Tishian Vamp? I shook my head, flustered while Jordan sat with that unruffled smirk on his stupid face.
__
Cass had told me Yokozuri was Tish 's most exotic dish. Well, she had under hyped it's sweetness. It turned out to be the most delicious dish I had ever tasted. Jordan had ordered two plates of Yokozuri and a bottle of sherry. The waitress was a blonde teenage girl who was unashamedly making passes at Jordan. As usual, he was basking in the adulation of her brown eyes all over him .
My stomach churned. With disgust probably. Because I saw nothing crushable about Jordan . He was the nastiest piece of shit I had ever seen. Why did girls think he was hot stuff . Ignorant fools, I smirked.
"Are we going to meet your mom after this?" I asked, in between mouthfuls, after the waitress had reluctantly withdrew.
"No. She's coming here to meet us" He announced sullenly, eating with all the hesitance of a half_hungry person.
"I was looking forward to meeting a wolf clan " I drowned a glass of sherry "Maybe see if there were good guys out there who might be cute too."
He cocked an eyebrow.
"Too bad you are stuck with the big bad wolf" He sneered.
"The big, bad ugly wolf" I corrected him smugly.
Jordan's plate lay half touched while I had finished mine with a relish. He wordlessly passed his food to me when he saw me staring at it hungrily.
"Thank you" I said drily, wolfing it down within seconds while Jordan stared out through the window, a look of worry on his face.
When the waitress cleared the dishes, I asked quietly "Care to tell me what's making you look uglier than usual?"
Jordan's eyes darted at me fiercely then fell flat to the floor and when he raised them again, his voice seemed thick with emotion "Nothing. My mom's here". His eyes darted to the door and back at me "Don't stare. She will be here in a second"
I held my breathe. The lady who walked to our table in less than a second was tall and younger than I expected. She did not have the polished refinement of my mother. She looked well ordinary except for her hair. A well groomed mass of waist length black hair, lined with shiny streaks of silver. And her face. Her eyes were not frozen over like Jordan's. They were sharp, alert and jet blue like the blueberries we often picked in the woods at Borderman. She was wearing flannel trousers and a pale shirt.
She was holding a large basket which she deposited on the table without preamble. I saw some loafs of bread, several tins , a big book and other groceries.
"You sure don't smell wolfish" She said briskly , staring at me with unfeigned curiosity "You don't look vampish either. " Her hands found their way to my face, turning it this way and that. Her touch was warm yet I shuddered. "Not from these parts , I can see".
Jordan rolled his eyes, repulsed obviously.
"Mom, stop it" He snapped "She's one of the schorlars from the Black Colony "
"Oh" She raised an eyebrow in surprise then extended a hand "I am Moira Files, Jordan's mom and also the Deputy Sheriff of Tish."
"Night Carter" I shook the outstretched hand, a lump in my throat and my voice nervous "Student " I added and immediately felt like an idiot.
"I can see that" Her eyes darted over me slowly . Then she sank to the space beside Jordan, still staring at me briskly.
I could not return the stare which was beginning to feel somewhat like a glare so I let my eyes sit on other places. Like the barman. The other tables. The blonde waitress somewhat eying me tediously. Peach and Harmon huddled together, whispering sweet nothings.
Somehow scraps of Moira's conversation with Jordan drifted to my ears even if they spoke in whispers. I could hear mentions of the clan, Alpha Hayden, Raven Hollow and then she was ruffling his hair and asking him if he was good.
Fifteen minutes later , it was all over. But Moira stood up, took another long look at me and sat down again.
"Can I have a word with your friend?" She said to Jordan even if her eyes were hovering all over me. I felt uneasy and shifted nervously in my seat.
Jordan winced. But he got up obediently and walked to my side, whispering "Don't get scared. She's not gonna eat you. And yes, I hate her too". His mouth lingered . And then he was gone in a flash.
"So, did Jordan tell you he will be mated in a few days?" She said abruptly, smiling at me and revealing strong white teeth.
"Well, that's good news" I swallowed the tedious lump in my throat, wondering where the conversation was heading to.
"The annual blood Moon is in eight days" She continued , oblivious to my disinterest "I gather that's after the Founders Fest so definitely all unmated wolves will be in attendance. I am afraid for Jordan."
"Why?" I asked, returning the smile that didn't come from my heart.
"He's a wild impulsive child and am afraid the fame of being in a rockband has gotten to his head." Moira shrugged "Last year, when he turned seventeen, he ditched the ceremony. A flimsy excuse of being on tour or something. In our world, wolves are mated quite soon after they wolf out. Some as early as fourteen."
Something tugged at my chest.
"Why am I being privy to this information?" I blurted out nervously.
Moira smiled again. Then she said quite seriously "If a wolf stays unmated, he gradually loses bits of his power. Jordan is eighteen years old. He should be waxing strong, not waning. I know he wolfed out late, but damn, it's been two years and he's always looking for excuses to skip the ceremony. He needs you."
"Jordan's the mighty werewolf. I am human " I remind her testilly. What was this about Jordan needing me. My life in the Academy was slowly metamorphosing into a creepy phase where many charges seemed to be left to me. It was not a comforting idea.
"For one thing, he seems to like you" She says drily , eying me in a half glare. "For reasons I cannot fathom, I think he might listen to you. I have talked myself out on several occasions but Jordan rarely listens to me" She swallows "I miss the times he was a kid and I could spank some sense into him. Now he is the trendy rockstar who thinks more about his obsessed fangirls and the blinding paparazzi. Does he even care about his powers at all?" Something shone in Moira's eyes. Something shiny. Tears.
Touched, I reached out for her hands. And held it "What do you want me to do ?"
Moira dabs at her eyes "Talk to him. Coax him if need be. He shouldn't miss the Blood Moon Ceremony this time" She added quietly "Please."
She held my hands then promptly released it as if it had stung her. Her eyes focused more intently at me . "Have they come for you yet?"
I froze. She was sounding as creepy as Mrs. Webb who had warned me earlier. .
"Who is 'they'?" I asked casually, trying not to sound as frightened as I was.
"You are much more than you think you are" Moira said quietly "They will come for you. Be very careful, Night Carter. "
I rolled my eyes. "Well, all I keep getting are predictions of doom." God, please.
"Have they told you it is dangerous for you to fall in love with a werewolf" Moira announced suddenly.
I blushed crimson. Mrs. Webb had said something similar earlier. Why did they all have this absurd assumptions that I was in love with that idiotic Jordan Files.
"I have nothing with your son." I remarked tiredly.
"Yes." Moira smirks "But does he have nothing with you?"
I stared at her , bewildered. It was the same thing Mrs. Webb had asked me.
I shrugged , my voice flat as the floor "I have nothing with your son. There are a lot more eligible humans who do not have the grating arrogance of a werewolf. I will definitely stick to my kind."
"Wise choice" Moira smiled, getting up and handing me a crisp card "My work address. Feel free to call in anyday for a cup of coffee. Some werewolves are actually hospitable. And if strange things start unveiling, do clue me in. I am always available to help."
I accepted the card reluctantly and watched her walk away. The basket of groceries lay on the table.