Endearment is not a gamble

Chapter - 8

Clay seemed in deep thought every time I snuck a glance over at him. Though he had the company of some other boys in our class, he ignored them nonetheless, isolating himself to his thoughts. I turned my head away, looking back at Noah, who was sat opposite me, silently scanning over the text in a history book.

He was so… human.

Too human.

I’d only kill him sooner or later. The same went for Chloe and Jessy.

“But would you regret killing them?” my voice purred. “I mean… they pay no attention to you. They treat you like you’re completely worthless to them. Why should – more like why would – you feel regret?”

I wanted to reply. I wanted to fight back and say they were my friends, but I couldn’t. I knew the… voice was right. Why should I feel regret, when they treat me as though I am nothing to them?

Because I care, that’s why. The human side of me cares for-

“You’re not so human now though, are you princess?” My voice interrupted, amusement heavy in its muntrevore voice.

“Will you go away already?!” I shot back. Mentally, of course.

The bell rang; a long, flinching sound. I quickly packed up my things, and, telling Noah I’d see him later, I shuffled out of the classroom with Clay in my sights. He glanced here and there at the students laughing and talking around him, before he went into a science class. I raised my eyebrows. Looking around, checking nobody was paying attention, I followed him in, shutting the door after myself.

The classroom’s windows were wide open, letting in a thick, chilly breeze. The room was empty, save for the deserted tables. Something about the air was eerily quiet, cold if you will.

“Why are you following me?” Clay’s voice was venomous. I whirled around, and he was stood right there against the door in his grey faded skinny jeans, a black t-shirt, his emerald eyes shining in a way that would make any girl’s heart melt, his dark hair falling over his forehead carelessly. His eyes didn’t match his voice; his eyes portrayed a slight urgency, and somewhat… concern?

“I… um,” I stuttered, gnawing my lip, searching for an answer.

Why was I following him?

“You seemed like you were up to something.” I replied truthfully.

“What’s it to you, princess?” he muttered darkly. Before I could answer, he said, “Don’t follow me.”

At a human pace, he walked past me, towards the open windows. He began to climb out, his eyes on mine all the while, full of a coldness only a freezer should hold. I couldn’t help but let out a slight shiver, but my attentions were pried to the fact he was now out of the window, and walking away. I ran to the window, and began climbing out.

Luckily for me, we were on the ground floor.

I jumped off the windowsill, but before I could register where Clay was, he was pushing me back into the wall, pressing himself against me. I stared up at him, and his emerald eyes looked down at me with a mixture between coldness and pleading. He put his hands against the wall on either side of my head, blocking my escape, and I swallowed hard.

“I tell you not to follow me,” he said, his tone dark again. “And you follow me. Why do you disobey me? Why do you follow me?”

I shrugged casually. “I don’t play by someone else’s rules. And maybe I’m nosey.”

“Can’t you listen to me just this once?” he growled. “Just… don’t follow me!”

“Why? Seeing a girl?” I smiled wickedly. “Seeing a guy?”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so immature.”

My tone suddenly changed, and I looked up at him. He was angry, I could see that, but I could also see a slight tinge of fear. Something was wrong, and he wasn’t even going to tell me.

“What are you hiding?”

“I’m not hiding anything,” he shot back quickly. Too quickly. “I’m protecting you.” He put his hands on my waist and lifted me from the ground, setting me back down on the windowsill. He leaned his forehead on mine, and whispered, “Please don’t follow me.”

He pulled away, and looked at me one last time and said, “Please.”

“Why?” I demanded. “Tell me why, and I won’t.” He glared at me, but his icy breath on my lips distracted me until he applied slight pressure on my waist, which snapped me away from his closeness, and more towards his anger. Sensing he was losing his patience, I said, “I promise.”

He sighed, still angry at me. “Frankly princess, I don’t want you to die. That’s why I don’t want you to follow me.” He muttered. Silence followed, and he pressed his forehead against mine a little more, and I stopped breathing. But just like at, he’d pulled away. “You made a promise. Now stay here.”

With that, he was gone. Leaving me abandoned, alone, cold and – dare I say it – scared. Yes, I had a sudden fear course through my veins like electric volts.

He didn’t want me to die.

Did that mean that what he was doing would have killed me?

“You mean would it kill him?” My voice whispered. “You care. Admit it princess, if he dies tonight, you’re going to mourn for him.”

I ignored the voice. It’s not if he dies tonight, because he wasn’t going to die. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t, right?

RIGHT?!

“Wrong.” My voice said venomously.

I was not wrong.

I was not wrong!

Clay was fine, just being a complete jerk face, as per usual. Besides, why should I care what the hell the bloodsucker’s up to? I mean, he called me dumb, and he thinks I do whatever under his command. He was wrong both times.

I scrambled through the window, sliding off the windowsill and straightening out my clothes and hair, before slamming the window shut and running from the classroom.

I wasn’t wrong.

But I couldn’t find out. I couldn’t follow him!

He was probably miles away by now, sorting out whatever it was that need be sorted out right about now, thinking about how excellent he was feeling because he’d gotten me to do something. If I hadn’t been so nosey and confronted him, I could have followed. I could have done something like the dirty bloodsucker I was yet to become.

If I was as cool about all of this as I wanted to make myself believe, then why the hell did I have a deep, unnerving fear in the pits of my stomach?

Worrying for a vampire who cares about nothing more than himself and blood. Oh, the bloody (see what I did there?) irony. Well, all I can say is…

Life sucks, and then you die.

* * * * *

I watched her from deep within the bushes layers as she sat on the windowsill in the exact same position I’d left her in, her face blank, eyes glazed over. I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow as she sat there for three minutes and forty-five seconds in complete silence in a catatonic state. Eventually, however, she climbed into the window, and I moved on the second I heard it slam shut.

Steve’s Aston Martin Vanquish car came into view, and I could see him in the side mirrors glaring into the windshield, concentrating. His blonde hair was surprisingly untidy for a neat freak such as himself, falling over his forehead in front of his cloudy, grey eyes. He used to be like a brother to me, but not so much anymore. Over the years he changed; he put girls before… us. Sure so I messed around a lot, but when it came down to it, I always put these guys first.

But I didn’t like the idea of having friends. Not because I wanted to be alone all eternity, but because to have friends means to trust. The more trust you give to somebody, the worse the pain is when they leave. And yes, they’ll leave.

They all leave me eventually, but I learn to move on.

For a century and a half I’d had the “joyous” company of the only four people to ever walk this earth that I had considered friends of mine. And throughout that time, many people had come and gone from my life.

But not them…

Tessa. Such a small, petite little monster. A small, petite little monster of whom I had the responsibility of protecting. Not that I had be acquired to do so, I had chosen to play the role of the older brother. She lost her older brother to the war, and I knew the exact feeling, so I was just stepping in for her as she was for me. With hair as black as pitch, and eyes bright green, she sat in my Porche 911 Turbo.

Next to her sat Scarleet, her best friend. Her hair was dyed fiery red, and her eyes were somewhat violet purple, which was still a mystery to us all. In the back, sat Dustin, his coppery-brown hair a disarray as he babbled senselessly to the girls. If anyone, he was my brother, my best friend. He proved to be there for me more than anybody else could be in my darkest hours.

You think about your friends every day. Whether it’s consciously or unconsciously, they’re always on your mind. The trust you put in their hands is unbelievable, and I regret ever allowing myself to put my trust, my faith in somebody other than me. It’s just not something I like to do, due to the fact I am sure to be let down sooner or later. But… after a century and a half, that is yet to be proven from these four people.

“Will you hurry up?!” Steve shouted at me.

Snapping out of my trail of thoughts, I flitted over to the passenger side of his car, and the other car sped off. I climbed inside, and the very second my door shut, Steve slammed his foot on the accelerator. With a sigh, I buckled myself in just as the meter hit eighty five mph. Different shades of green blurred past my window as we sped out of town, trying to lure the rogues away from Southampton.

“Why?” I thought to myself. “Why couldn’t we just let them snap the necks and suck dry every single person in Southampton?”

Ah, this question absorbed my time recently. But, the killing spree that had yet to take place in Southampton was my job, and I’d swear on the pits of hell that I was going to do it with bittersweet revenge running through my veins. But of course, I had duties to fulfil first…

“They’re on our tail!” Dustin screamed at us through Steve’s open window. I turned around in my seat, and sure enough, the Rogues were gaining – and fast.

Through the back window I could see three fire-truck red Ferrari’s gaining fast. Well hell, the rogues knew their cars.

“Steve, drive!” I shouted. Steve slammed his foot harder on the accelerator pedal, and we sped up just as the front Ferrari shunted the back of our own car.

“I don’t think we can…” Steve’s voice faded as another Ferrari appeared, totalling the joyimum amount of twenty rogue vampires against five. But that sudden electrifying thought was distant in my mind as I watched two of the Ferrari’s zoom past us, headed towards my car ahead of us which contained three of the people I couldn’t loose. There was a Ferrari on either side of us, inching closer, caving us in, and the same was happening for the car in front of me. I glanced at the windows, hoping to see if our suspicions that it be the rogues who were after us were true, but they were tinted black.

“Shit.” I muttered.

I guess I could only pray they hadn’t brought anybody else, besides those in the four cars surrounding us now…

I could only hope that Amy was all right.

Because if the rogues had hold of her, it was the end, it would all be over.

A fresh thought popped into my head: what if this was a diversion? Nobody was back home to make sure it wasn’t. She was defenceless and on her own.

But it was too late to turn back now. All I could do was hope.

“Hold on tight,” Steve grunted. He cut the accelerator, and slammed his foot on the breaks and skidded us around, wedging us in between the two Ferrari’s that had been so close before, sending them skidding across the highway. Steve accelerated straight ahead, going back the way we came.

I put my hand on the dashboard to keep myself upright. My previous thoughts flickered through my mind, the final one lingering: it was too late to go back.

And then it came to me.

“What the hell are you doing?!” I screamed over the roar of the engine. “Amy’s back there! If they get to her, she’s gonna be skinned alive!”

Steve’s eyes went from being panic-stricken, to grieving. Eventually, they turned cold, and he turned to look right at me.

“It’s a chance we need to take.”

“And Dustin?!” I flared. “Tessa? What about Scarleet? You just gonna leave them to die?!”

I saw his jaw clench, and his breathing became deep. Before we knew it, the Ferrari’s had caught up with us. Pushing into the sides of the car, Steve began to lose control of the wheel, and he flashed me a worried look. I turned around in my seat to search the road behind me where we had just been… searching for my car. Searching for my… friends.

It was too foggy. I hadn’t noticed it was such bad weather, nor the fog.

Fog in September? Even in England that’s unusual.

But the worst part was, I couldn’t see my car that held inside three people… three of four that I couldn’t bear to loose.

“s**t, s**t, s**t!” Steve yelled just as we skidded around in a circle again, and the car began to roll over.

“WATCH OUT FOR THE GLASS!” I shouted at the top of my lungs as all the windows surrounding us shattered into little tiny pieces, landing here and there, digging into my arm, throat and cheek. I could feel the warm liquid oozing out of my lip, travelling down my chin. As the car stopped rolling, landing upside down, I could see the bottom of the red Ferrari’s skidding around, the tyres screeching with protest as they did so. I fumbled with my seatbelt, cursing under my breath unconsciously as it wouldn’t come undone.

Next to me, Steve sounded like he was choking, his chest rumbling with every cough that escaped his lips, causing me to wince.

“You okay?” I whispered, my throat aching painfully.

Despite the fact I’d heal soon, I still had to endure the agonizing pain in the meantime. So this was how the humans felt? Ouch.

“I’m good,” Steve mumbled. “I’ll undo your seatbelt, you do mine. Mine’s stuck.”

“Same, man. Same.” I was fed up. Truth be told, I’d had enough of this life. What was it? Blood, s*x, blood, blood, blood more s*x, s*x, blood, s*x, blood, oh and… did I mention blood and s*x? No? Well, add that to the list too.

Oh, and rogue vampires trying to hunt you and kill you for over a century straight.

I could hear footsteps. High-heels colliding with the concrete floor, to be precise. It had just begun to rain, the little pitter-patter of it sounding, echoing on the floor by my head. A sudden thought struck me as the thick, heavy stench of smoke filled my nostrils.

I slammed my hand onto the button for Steve’s seatbelt, and it released suddenly, making him scramble around a little to gain his proper balance. He took a deep breath in, and at the same time, he undid my seatbelt in the same ferocious, desperate way.

The car was on fire, and it was going to explode.

Fire killed vampires.

“Quick, get out!” I ordered as the rain picked up, but I knew it wouldn’t be enough to put the fire out. The footsteps, however, were fast – running, and they were getting further away. The rogue probably saw the fire on the car…

Ribs sore, throat scratching due to the delicious scent of Steve’s blood surrounding me, and my limbs slowly gaining feeling, I crawled through the window. A cold hand wrapped around mine and pulled, dragging me out.

“Cheers,” I coughed to Steve. Without saying a thing, we both flitted one hundred yard away. As we got there, I stood still and turned in time to watch the car explode. Bits of glass, metal and other accessories that belonged to the car went flying, and both Steve and I dodged them swiftly. I noticed there was only one red Ferrari out here, and the driver’s door was open, revealing the emptiness inside.

“The others,” Steve said urgently. “We need to find the others!”

I felt my eyes widen, and I turned away from the scene of the crash, searching the white fog. It was still too thick, too heavy for me to see through, so I flitted through it, searching… all the while, just searching.

The further away from the explosion we got, the less ability I had to see, the blank fog enfolding around us, curving into our shapes, becoming the air we breathed. I could hear a loud clanking sound, like rocks hitting one another echoing around us, the sound getting louder and louder. I turned on the spot, though it was stupid of me to do, considering I couldn’t see. Idiotic.

A cold hand crept its way around the front of my torso from around my waist, travelling up my chest. I was about to ask Steve what he thought he were doing, but when I looked down, I knew instantly it wasn’t his arm. The arm travelling up my chest was thin and slender, as white as a sheet, with nails painted hazel red.

Hazel red nail polish. That rang a bell…

A symbolization…

“Hey baby,” A female’s voice breathed into my ear, lips brushing down my neck. “Did you miss me?”

“What the-,” Before I could continue, the sharp pain hit as the pointed end of a wooden stake appeared through my torso, just below my final rib bone. My breath was gone, and my hollow heart was suddenly pumping venom around my system coldly, trying to protect myself.

“I sure as hell missed you.” She whispered. With that, she pulled the stake upwards, ripping it through my torso until it reached just below my heart. I could feel it rip the tender tissues around my heart, though, so close that just one millimetre would be the final, lethal blow.

Venom still coaxing my blood as it seeped through the wound, my head started to spin, as did the world under my feet. She slowly, painfully pulled the stake from my chest, making goose-bumps go up my arms and also make my chest ripple with agony. I was spun around so quickly, that I barely had time to register it before I was on my back on the floor, with pain so unendurable it was impossible.

So was this what it felt like to die?

A high-heeled shoe landed on my throat, and I looked up at my attacker. Her long, light brunette hair was in curls just below her waist. Her eyes shone crystal blue, and her lips were pulled up into the smile I hadn’t seen in a century.

“Erica?” I growled throatily, wincing at the pain again.

Her crimson red lips curled upwards into a smirk. “The one and only. I’m not here for a chit chat, Clay.” As she said this, I could hear Steve’s cries of “Get off me!” echoing in the air, filling my ears. I just hoped they wouldn’t stake him, because without him, there’d be no hope in saving Amy from these bastards, or finding the other three. Right now, he was all I had.

“I just thought I’d say,” she removed her high-heel from my throat and looked down at me. “I hope you and your dirty f*****g b***h rot in hell.” She flashed me a wicked smile. “Literally.” With that, she spat on the floor next to me, and was gone, leaving me in unbearable pain.

I knew who she was talking about…

“Steve?” I whispered throatily, hoping for a reply.

“Clay!” I heard him shout, and he was suddenly there, fumbling around at my chest, eyes ablaze with confusion.

I shook my head slowly. “Go home,” I whispered. “Go back to the house. Please. For me, just go. She’ll…” I winced at the pain again. “Amy’s going to need your protection. You’re all she’s got right now until we find the others.”

“But you need-“

“GO!” I screamed. His mouth snapped shut, and his face was suddenly crestfallen, his eyes glazed over into a dull grey as he looked down at me.

“Love you, man.” He said quietly. “I’ll be back. I’ll come back for you, I swear.”

I just smiled as much as I could, before he left me all alone, cowering in the middle of the road with a gaping hole in my chest that wouldn’t heal. It was too close to the heart to heal without blood.

I had to take the closed route too, meaning no one – not for another forty two days – would be coming down this way.

Slowly, I shut my eyes and let out a sigh, ready for death to come and overlap me in some cliché way that’d normally make me laugh. But I couldn’t… no, because all I could hear was Amy’s voice ringing humbly in my mind.

“What are you hiding?” It was being repeated, as if she was demanding an answer and would not shut up unless I gave her one.

I breathed in the thick smoke, and I sighed with relief for the feel of the rain washing over my skin, over my burning chest. Pain so fierce, so striking that a human would have died of shock by now. But not me, I could hardly die from blood loss any time soon. I had twice as much as I should have…

“What are you hiding?” her voice asked again, her tone soft and slightly hurt, as if my keeping something from her gnawed at her insides.

“Everything,” I whispered to the rain. I saw a flash despite my eyes being closed, and a few seconds later a loud, rumbling thunder shook the ground I lay upon, rain falling more heavier as I waited for death to enchant me.

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