Shelter by Tara Shuler

such excellent night vision. I didn’t buy it. I’d seen how truly horrible it looked, and it was terrifying. It still looked bad, but I thought humans took a lot longer to heal than vampires.
    “I’d better get you home,” he said quickly.
     

Chapter Five
Max
     
    I was sitting in homeroom a few hours later when a new guy walked in. He had dark, brooding eyes, and dark, chin length, feathered hair that framed his chiseled face. His bulk rippled under his tight t-shirt. He was stunning. Too stunning for a random high school in Savannah, Georgia. He belonged on the cover of a magazine. My jaw went slack.
    For one fleeting moment, it seemed as though the world had slowed down. Maybe it did. Time almost stopped. In slow motion, just like in a movie, he strode across the classroom. His walk was jaunty and masculine.
    He placed a stack of books on an empty desk near the front of the room and shrugged off his backpack, hanging it over the back of his desk. For one magical moment, his dark eyes turned my way, and the corner of his mouth turned up in faint lopsided grin. I turned my eyes down toward my hands. He was too beautiful to look at. He wasn’t real.
    “Wow,” I heard Amanda whisper to another girl. “Who is that ?”
    “He’s new,” the other girl said. “I heard he and his family just moved here from California or something. He just enrolled this morning.”
    “He’s hot!” Amanda said, and the two giggled.
    When roll was called, I heard his name – Maksim Augustine. I thought that was an unusual name.
    After homeroom, I was walking down the hallway and Amanda and Ashley were standing by the lockers whispering and giggling. They both eyed me as I walked by, and I felt distinctly uncomfortable.
    “Slut,” I thought I heard one of them say, but I kept walking.
    I heard them laughing uproariously behind me, their shrill voices echoing down the hall like witches cackling over a cauldron. My face burned with rage, but I clutched my books tightly in front of me and gritted my teeth.
    “What was that about?” I heard a deep voice behind me ask.
    I turned around to see Maksim Augustine standing there starting at me quizzically. His dark eyes searched mine, and he took my breath away.
    “What was what about?” I asked as coolly as I could manage.
    “Those girls,” he said, nodding his head back toward Amanda and Ashley.
    “How should I know?” I asked. “It doesn’t have anything to do with me.”
    “Seemed like it did,” he challenged me.
    “Well, it didn’t,” I countered, turning to walk away.
    “I’m Maksim – Max,” he said suddenly, following me.
    “Yes, I did hear your name during roll call,” I agreed.
    “Oh, right,” he uttered. “And you’re Alice?”
    “Yep,” I nodded.
    I kept walking, but he continued to follow me to my locker. I struggled to remember my combination with his body just inches from mine, and I had to steal a peek inside the cover of my notebook where I’d written it. I opened my locker and yanked out the books I needed for my first and second period classes, then I slammed the door a little harder than I should have.
    “Can I walk you to your class?” Max asked me.
    “I’d rather you not,” I told him honestly. “I’m really in the mood to be alone.”
    “Okay, no problem,” he said agreeably. “I’ll catch up with you later?”
    I nodded, hoping he wouldn’t. I really didn’t want to deal with anyone that day, and despite the instant physical attraction I’d felt for Max, all I could think about was whether Kai’s mother was home, and what was going to happen to him. That, and how desperately I needed to be away from all the delicious smelling humans.
    At lunchtime, I flew to the pay phone and rummaged through my backpack for Kai’s phone number. He’d given it to me when he dropped me off that morning. I was so worried about him I couldn’t stand it, so I called him.
    “Hello?” he answered.
    “Kai?” I replied. “It’s