Chapter Twelve
Stopping for a moment on the stairs, he heard Eleazar open the door. "Nikky, come in. What can I do for you?"
He heard her step inside and suddenly her scent hit him like a ton of bricks. His throat, already on fire from the lack of hunting he'd done lately, was an inferno so hot, Lucifer wouldn't have wanted to live there. His hands trembled, and he clenched them into fists at his sides, willing himself to walk the rest of the way up the stairs, putting distance, an open window and hopefully miles between him and this delicious smelling human girl.
"Professor, I'm sorry for disturbing you at home, but I needed to bring these to you immediately. I was in your office, and noticed them sitting in a different pile from where they should have been. I'm sorry, I must have misfiled them, and I know you are grading these tests today." Nikky spoke quickly.
"It's okay Nikky, thank you for taking the time to bring them here, but you didn't have to. You could have called, I would have come to school early to finish grading them." And you wouldn't be in a houseful of vampires right now. Eleazar added silently.
Jesse heard a shaky laugh come from Nikky. "I didn't even think of that Professor, I'm sorry. I was so concerned with getting them to you. I wouldn't want anyone to fail because of my mistake."
Jesse took a sharp intake of breath, and his throat was even more on fire than it had been before if that was possible. His whole body trembling, he turned, fighting with himself the entire time. He knew Eleazar could hear him, and he willed the other man to get the girl out of there before he could do it. Deliberately, Jesse made his way down the stairs, his whole body shaking with the need to kill this girl. He could hear Eleazar trying to get the girl out of the house.
"...thank you again Nikky. I will see you in class tomorrow." Eleazar was trying to not so subtly get the girl out the door. Unfortunately that's when Jesse came into view. Her eyes widened in shock, presumably at his beauty, until she caught the look on his face. Pure, unadulterated terror took over her features, and Jesse lunged for her.
"JESSE! NO!" he was dimly aware of Eleazar yelling at him, and then crashing into the other man. Jesse was so focused on the girl's scent that he didn't notice Garrett had appeared as well. He felt strong hands holding him back, but his eyes were only for Nikky. The stupid girl was rooted to the spot in fear.
A growl erupted from his chest, and in a feat of strength that could only be borne from desperation, Jesse pulled himself free of both Eleazar and Garrett's restraining hands. He heard Nikky's whimpers of fear as he came on her, pushing her head aside and sinking his teeth into her soft neck, feeling the soothing warmth of the blood cool the hellfires in his throat.
-
He came back to his senses, looking down at the broken body of the pretty teaching assistant in his arms. He closed his eyes on the scene, but held her still, unwilling to let her go. He'd let them all down. Eleazar and Garrett had just finished telling him how he needed to choose for crying out loud and look what he went and did! He never should have let himself get this thirsty.
He continued to mentally berate himself as he opened his eyes, finding Eleazar gently taking Nikky's body from him. He couldn't look the other man in the eye. "I'm... so sorry Eleazar. I... I tried to get myself away from her scent. I should have ran up the stairs... I should have done something..." the words tumbled out so fast, only a vampire would have understood them.
Eleazar looked down at his lifeless teaching assistant then to Jesse. There was no animosity in his eyes. "Have you made your choice Jesse?" he asked quietly.
Jesse nodded, with confidence this time. "This will never happen to another human by my hands." he said solemnly. "What can I do to help fix this?"
Eleazar, though he hid it well, was upset, though he did understand. He sighed. "You need to fix this yourself. I can't be anywhere near it, this is already going to cause enough problems. I wonder if she told anyone she would be coming here?"
Jesse gently took Nikky's body from Eleazar and frowned. Having a flash of insight, he looked up at Eleazar, finally looking the other man in the eye. "I am sorry for the problems this will cause you. I will clean this up as best I can. Can you call her roommate, or whomever she is living with? See if they knew she was coming here. If they do, tell them she never showed up and you are worried. If they don't know, tell them she had called to say she would be her, and you're worried because she hasn't shown up yet and it's been much longer than anticipated. I will take care of her, and her car." he paused. "Again, I'm really sorry Eleazar," he whispered.
Eleazar nodded and put his hand on the other man's shoulder. "I know you are Jesse. And I do believe you will not do anything like this ever again. This was your turning point. I had better make that call."
As Eleazar walked away, Jesse picked up the purse left on the floor where Nikky had dropped it. It had penguins on it. Jesse sighed and walked out the door, taking the purse and Nikky with him. He turned around when he heard Garrett following him.
"Do you need any help Jesse?"
He smiled gratefully. "You don't have to help, but an extra pair of hands would be welcomed."
While Jesse put Nikky in the car, and found her keys, Garrett found a couple shovels from the garage. As they were about to leave, Jesse remembered something. "I'll be right back. We will need those papers that Nikky brought to Eleazar."
He ran into the house and spoke quickly with Eleazar, who surrendered the papers to Jesse. He sighed, figuring he could just give them all a standard grade for the paper.
When they were ready, Jesse sped out of the drive and headed toward a point half way between their place and Fairbanks. They would leave the car, running and the door open, her purse and everything still there. Jesse and Garrett would then take her far away from that scene. He hated to think what her family and friends would go through because of him, but to not do this, it would jeopardize everything Tanya and her family had worked for. And in the end, Tanya was much more important. He was, after all, a selfish creature by nature.
Reaching their destination, he realized that while he'd been inside getting the papers, Garrett had had the foresight to put some extra gas in the tank, so as to make it look as if she'd never reached their house. They set the scene, and then took Nikky from the car. Making sure there were no cars coming, they darted into the forest, Jesse carrying her body.
They ran for many more miles away from the Denali home before they were able to find a suitable place. Quickly they dug deep into the earth, and then Garrett handed Nikky's body gently down to Jesse, who laid her very softly on the earthen floor. "I'm sorry, Nikky. I promise this will never happen to another human by my hands. You were my motivation to finally make that choice. I am sorry," he said quietly and quickly, before jumping out of the deep hole, and starting to shovel the earth back over her. When they finished, they spread leaves and trampled the earth to help make it look like it hadn't been disturbed.
Finally, they ran back toward the large home on the edge of the Denali forest. They didn't speak along the way, each lost in their own thoughts. Jesse was wondering what he'd tell Tanya. He knew that this was the last human he would kill. He would never put Tanya and her family... their family through this type of thing again if he could help it.
Garrett had helped Jesse clean up, and it was for two reasons. One, because he really liked Jesse, and he believed him when he had said that he had tried to walk away. Being beyond thirsty, new to the vegetarian lifestyle and then to have a scent so overwhelmingly mouthwatering was a tough combination to overcome. Garrett himself had been punched in the gut by Nikky's scent, but since he'd had more time to adjust, and he'd fed only earlier that day, he'd been able to resist.
The other reason was because he could easily see what happened being him instead of Jesse. He actually avoided humans as much as possible because he wasn't always sure he could handle being around them. When Kate was with him, he could, she gave him the strength and confidence that he lacked. But alone, he wasn't sure. So he had offered to help Jesse, because he had an idea of what he must be feeling.
"Thank you, Garrett. You didn't have to help me, and you still did. I appreciate it," Jesse said as they neared the house.
"No problem Jesse. Honestly, I could see that being me. And I didn't want you to have to go through it by yourself."
"Now I have to explain it to Tanya," Jesse sighed.
Garrett nodded to the SUV that sat in the garage as they entered to put the shovels away. "No time like the present, my man. Good luck."
Jesse looked at the Denali sitting in the garage, then at the door leading up to the house and sighed.
