Chapter 21 HALF-TIME INCIDENT
My stomach dropped. He said something to the player beside him. The player looked at me too.
I pulled my scarf higher.
It happened at half time.
Everyone moved. The Nightfang students went to the refreshment stand or the bathrooms or just stretched their legs. The crowd reduced around me.
I stayed in my seat. I should not have stayed in my seat. I should have stayed with people.
I realized this thirty seconds later when I became aware of figures moving through the emptying stands toward me.
They moved the way predators moved when they were not concerned about their target going anywhere.
There were four of them. They were Ashford students.
They were not in their kit because they had changed at half time.
They arranged themselves around my row, acting casual and conversational.
And to my greatest dismay, they were so large. Like mammoths in human bodies.
"Human girl," The tall dark eyed one said pleasantly. "At a vampire school match."
"I go to Nightfang," I said.
"I know," he said. "I can smell you from the field." He tilted his head. "We all can."
The other three said nothing. They did not need to. Their presence said everything.
"I am going to go find my friends," I said.
I stood up.
One of them stepped into my row.
He was not touching me but he stood between me and the exit.
"There is no need to rush," the tall one said. "Half time is fifteen minutes. We are just talking."
"I do not want to talk. I have to go," I said.
"You are bleeding," he said. "Just slightly somewhere. I cannot tell where but I can smell it."
I thought of the small cut on my finger from this morning. From the edge of something sharp. It was barely noticeable
"Please move," I said.
"In a moment," he said.
He stepped closer. I stepped back.
My calves pressed against the seat behind me.
"You smell extraordinary," he said quietly. "Human blood always does but yours is...." He inhaled again. His eyes darkened. "....remarkable."
"Don't talk about me," I said. My voice was steady to my surprise but my heart was hammering so hard.
He suddenly reached out toward my scarf.
"Leave her alone." Jake's voice came sharp from nowhere. From somewhere at the end of the row.
The Ashford student stopped and turned.
Jake was standing at the top of the steps with his hands loose at his sides and an expression I had not seen on him before.
There was no smile or warm eyes. Just something so cold that I felt it under my skin.
"She is with Nightfang," Jake said. He walked down the steps slowly. "And she is with me."
The tall student looked at Jake. Then at me. Then back at Jake.
"We were just talking," he said.
"No," Jake said. "You were not."
The guys got out of the way.
He reached my row and stepped in front of me.
The Ashford student held his gaze for a long moment. Then he stepped back.
He then began to leave. He looked at me over Jake's shoulder.
"Remarkable," he said again.
Then he turned and walked back up the steps. The others followed, gone as easily as they had appeared.
Jake turned to face me.
"Are you okay?" he said.
My legs were not entirely reliable.
"Yes," I said.
He looked at my face.
"Lily."
"I am okay," I said, trying to sit as I shook. "I just.... my legs are a little...."
He caught me before I could finish the sentence. His arms came around me and he pulled me against his chest and held on.
I pressed my face into his jacket.
"I have you," he said. "You are okay."
I nodded against his chest.
His arms were warm and strong and I focused on the warmth.
I felt so good and so proud to know that he was here for me.
"I have you," he said again.
I believed him.
Alexander's POV:
I saw it all from the field.
I saw the Ashford players move into the visitor stands at half time. I saw Jake move.
He was faster than me because he was already in the stands and I was at the far end of the field and by the time I had crossed the pitch and taken the steps two at a time, it was already over.
Jake had her.
She was pressed against his chest with her face hidden and his arms around her and he was saying something into her hair.
I stopped on the steps, three rows above them.
She was safe, at least. Jake had gotten to her.
I stood on the steps and watched Jake hold her and felt something burn in my chest.
And sorry to say, it was not a relief.
She lifted her face from his jacket.
She was not crying. That was the first thing I checked for. She was pale and her eyes were wide but she was not crying.
Good.
She looked up at Jake and said something. He shook his head and said something back. She nodded slowly.
Then she looked past his shoulder and found me on the steps.
I did not look away in time.
For a moment we just looked at each other.
Her face was still pale and her scarf had been pulled to one side. There was something in her eyes that I recognised because I had spent two years studying her expressions without meaning to.
She was frightened but she was trying not to be. She was doing it a bit well than usual.
I turned and walked back down the steps.
Lily's POV:
Alexander walked away.
I watched him turn and walk back down the steps and disappear around the corner of the stand.
Jake was here and had perfectly come to save me.
That was everything I had been working toward.
I turned back to Jake.
"Thank you so much, Jake," I said.
He pulled back slightly to look at my face. His thumb came up and brushed my cheek once, carefully.
"You do not have to thank me," he said.
"I do," I said.
He shook his head and smiled softly.
"Saturday," he said quietly. "We are still on for Saturday right?"
I looked at him.
His brown eyes were warm again. The cold anger had gone back to wherever it lived when Jake did not need it. He was just Jake again, looking at me like I was someone worth showing up for.
"Yes," I said. "We are still on. I'm so excited!"
He smiled wider and pressed his lips to my forehead.
"Good," he said. "Come on. Second half is starting. We'll meet later."
He took my hand and led me back to my seat. I went with him. And I did not look for Alexander in the stands. Because Jake sat and talked and laughed with me till his attention was needed.
Alexander's POV:
I played the second half badly.
My coach noticed. He said nothing during the match but he looked at me with the expression of someone filing something away for later. I did not care.
I scored once in the final ten minutes.
We won three out of two.
There was so much wild cheering.
I walked off the field and found the changing rooms, stood under the shower for longer than necessary with the water as hot as it would go.