Love Bites

His Own Man

    When I wake up, I feel as if I had been holding my breath underwater. That moment when you can no longer keep your breath, and are forced to suck air in again, or die? This was how it felt like to wake up. I was gasping for air, and my mind was so sucked down into my past, it was like I was seeing day light for the first time.

    I lean forward, bringing my knees up to my chest, and press my eye sockets against them. I'm trying to push the memory back down. I have no idea why it was surfacing in my mind again.

    Although my family's death was awful, and it had scarred me so thoroughly, I had moved on with my life. My old life was pleasant, and I often wonder how my life would be different as to how it is now. But things were good in this home.

    Sandra, Mason, and Zen (my thoughts linger on her every time she comes up in my mind,) had taken me into their lives seamlessly. Mason had wanted a son, obviously. After Zen was born, Sandra had complications and was incapable of bearing any more children. Mason had nearly come to terms with it before I unintentionally disrupted their lives. You would think that Zen would be hurt by her father taking to me, having me become a member of the family so easily, but she was pleased. Zen was always protective over me, ever since that horrific night. She's younger than me, however these past years she has surpassed me in wisdom and maturity.

    I'm turning 20 now, though. I’ve been in this house for 12 years. I have learned what they know, and have trained to become a part of their clave. Since I was not born into their world, my initiation is meant to take place tonight, on my birthday. Zen has been out of town at College for so long now, and she is supposed to be coming back home for the celebration. I suddenly perk up. She'll be here, she'll be home. I smile, wrapping my arms around my knees to squeeze myself with a silly childlike emotion. Everyone knows how much I care for Zen. Everyone but her. She still finds it difficult to see me anything different than a boy. A boy who was emotionally crippled by traumatic events, needing her to guide him through the tragedy. Needing her and her family to make him whole again.

    We hadn't actually seen each other for three years now. She had left for college right after her sixteenth birthday, and her own Vampire Hunter Initiation Ceremony. She was initiated early since she had an unprecedented growth in her skills as a Hunter, and leader ship skills to rival her parents! Zen had gone to a school far from home, which made it difficult for us to see one another. She had actually been learning from, and teaching, a clave kin to our own. They have come across some developments that have required extra help, and some shared education would make things more beneficial to them and our own clave. Zen was the first choice to send, her value becoming an integral part to the sister clave overcoming this new foe. Things were heating up quickly in that region, and even though it was far from home, it didn’t make our small town safe. Rumors were circulating that this new Vampire group was gaining strength quickly, and looking to head in our direction for fresh kills. Which is why Zen went. She is the strongest members of our clave, being brought up well by its leaders/her parents. Zen gets to look forward to becoming the new leader of the clave when her parents reach the second celebration. It is what can be considered a retirement ceremony for Vampire Hunters. They are no longer capable to maintain a strong physique and be capable supportive members of the clave. It’s not to be disrespectful to those who are up in age. It is meant to be logical. Keep those who are slowing and weakening out of the way, so there are less casualties in the battle field.

    Every celebration is steeped in history and tradition, something that if of great honor. I couldn't honestly care less about the celebration, not in comparison to seeing Zen again. I wonder how she's changed. I wonder how different she will be. I wonder what she looks like. What sort of new skills she has developed being gone. My mind can do nothing but prattle on about the differences it can come up with about her. Typically I can ignore all of it, but not with her supposed to be coming home today!

    I throw my blankets back off the bed, and drop down from the bed with enthusiasm. I grab my clothes, and made my way to the bathroom. I'm the only one home right now. My adopted family already gone to work. I have been out of college for about three weeks now, so I've been enjoying the vacation.

    I have definitely changed since being the eight year old little boy. I am certainly more cheerful now, after years of conditioning, training, learning, and feeling strong enough to defend myself from the beasts. I was afraid for a long time after that day. I was also very young, and undeniably naïve about the world. Today!? I am tall, so tall! I would have grown far past my father. I now stand 6’3”. I've also been training extremely hard in the last two years. I met a friend, one not a part of a clave, who was serious about body building. He taught me how to lift for strength, but to still keep myself lean. I must say, these bi's, tri's, quad's, abs, glutes, and everything are in top shape. I make it a point to go on a six mile run four days a week. I also have my training I do, so there was no time for anything outside of studies and Vamp’ Hunter business. Despite all these physical changes though, I could still see my mom’s sad brown eyes and soft wavy black hair, my father's strong jaw and olive complexion, and my own little button nose. My nose was a complex of mine, it keeps me looking very boyish. I still can't keep some of the older clave members from pinching my cheeks with an, “Ooooh you're so cute.” I roll my eyes at the thought.

    I quickly get through with my shower. I pull my jeans on, my converse sneakers, and pull a red colored shirt over my still wet hair. I shake my hair out, letting it air dry. I mosey on over to the kitchen, grabbing eggs out to make an omelet. As I get my breakfast prepped I think more about my dream.

    I passed out on the floor that night; I had ended up with a fever. Sandra found me in the hall, just barely breathing. She had no choice but to take me to the hospital. My temperature was reaching a critical level. The event led to a series of questions the family had to answer, so the hospital staff members could do their job to heal me. Mason and Sandra had to explain who I was, and that I was an orphan now. I was admitted after the initial interrogation. It took a few months before I was released from the care of the hospital, more so to do with the fact that, there was technically no one to release me to. I had no other kin outside of my little family. Our family lived so modestly, that when my grandparents had died there were no other family members around. Sure, there were long distance cousins, but they were even more unfamiliar to me than Sandra and Mason. Our family separated itself from the norms of society, to live more like paupers, and we became outcasts from any familial ties. We were unwanted, and misunderstood. I couldn't ever see myself to this day, living comfortably with my blood relatives.

    After about two weeks in the hospital, Child Protective Services had to come in and investigate. It wasnt until another week after that I had finally begun to come out of my stress induced coma. The traumatic event caused so much injury to my body and my mind, it shut down. When they finally were able to get me to wake up enough, I was barraged with numerous questions as well. Somehow, more than likely by sheer luck (or the impressive skills of creating cover stories by Mason), our stories matched. Shortly, the agent began trying to ask me about some relatives. The only relatives I knew of were across the country. I had no intention of moving that far from my life. I still couldn’t come to terms that everything was gone. The one thing I could feel though, was that this family who saved me were where I needed to be. Soon, things seemed to become a little less stressful, and I made it a point to ask about staying with Sandra and Mason. I wanted nowhere else to be at the moment, save for them. I truly wasn’t sure how a relationship will build between us, but that was little concern to me at that very moment. I really only knew there was a burning vendetta against these awful creatures who killed my family, and destroyed my life. The agent didn’t know about the demons who destroyed my home, or that this strange family was involved in the destruction. Every scrap of evidence had been eroded away, making the entire incident appear to be an accident. My memory had ebbed back to the surface by this point, and I had questions. I also knew who had the answers. When the two months ended, I was finally released into the care of Sandra and Mason. I was now an adopted member of their family.

    I didn't know that I wasn’t just going to be a member of this family. I didn't know that I would have to become a part of a clave. This is why I chose them though. There is a part of the world that I was never introduced to, and I wanted very much to understand. Mason and Sandra realized that they would never be able to keep me from the beasts that walk the night, not with my burning desire to kill them, the three of them began to teach me the way of a Vampire Hunter. I have gone through every rigorous training, and teaching, that every born in clave members were required to accomplish. The only thing left now, was the ritual.

    I am older than most members who undergo the ceremony. Eighteen is the age of initiation, for those who are successful in their training. I wasn’t born into this though, and lacked all the basic knowledge that was taught at birth to these Hunters. Hunters were extremely familiar with it all, and were not afraid of these creatures, because they understood them. I was terrified, but I learned despite it. I put forth the effort to fight the evil, and prevent what happened to me to others. The ceremony is a representation to all members that you have become an adult, and are able to become fully participating members of the clave. The training gloves are off, and we are now able to work in the field, take assignments and missions, and work on teams to defeat the vampire scum. Since I didn't actually begin my training until 9, I had to wait longer. I know Sandra and Mason are still weary of letting me be initiated. They fear I will run off and attempt to find who was responsible for my parent's death. I’m not sure why. As far as I had ever understood it, none of the beasts had survived the incident. Truly, my concern was to attempt to eradicate the Vampires from the world entirely. I could do that within the security of the clave.

    I sigh, shaking the thoughts from my head, and finish cleaning my mess up in the kitchen. I leave the house soon after. I don’t like sitting in the house for too long, I become restless. I had been accustomed for nearly half of my life working outside on a farm. I transitioned well in to the Hunter life, when it came to physical demand. Mentally though, I missed all of the simple work of a farmer. Living as a Hunter, you needed to be mentally aware at all times, and cram it with all of the fighting styles, the weaknesses of the monsters we fight, their strengths, their habits, everything. It was a lot of information to absorb for being introduced to it late in life, in comparison to original clave members.

    Recently, however, I have graduated from school with my Bachelor's degree. I still did training on my own at school, and studied all of the materials Mason and Sandra always sent me. I was happy at school though, and thrived. Instead of missing my home life, now I missed school. I missed my friends, I missed my routine, and I missed doing something other than worrying about my Hunter training. I guess I had grown away from hating my past. I was beginning to feel like it's time to move on and do something more with my time, than train and study.

    Making my way down the street, I went straight for the coffee shop downtown. It is a long walk, but I enjoyed the cool spring air on my freshly washed skin. It was refreshing. As I made the corner to turn on to Main Street, I caught a glimpse of something familiar. It was brief and I couldn't make it out, but there was a severe face with a certain grace that made me think of my sister. The person was down at the end of a long alley, which was covered in shade. I couldn't tell how or why I might know them. I shrugged it off, not finding it important. I just wanted some hi priced coffee to keep me warm on my morning walk.

    The day was cool for being the end of April. The leaves were back, covering the trees in a various green colors. It made the air smell fresh. I smiled up at the sun, letting it dry my hair for me. The black jacket I shrugged on didn't do a whole lot for the breeze, but it didn't matter to me.

    I took my attention back to the pavement, watching my feet slap the pavement. I finally made my way up to the coffee shop door. I pushed it open, and the door met something else on the other end with a thud. I suddenly heard a sharp and pained scream inside of the café. My face turned redder than my shirt as I realized what I had done.

    A girl with silver locks, a pink beret, a tan petticoat with matching scarf not pulled together, allowed for the coffee which was hit by me opening the door, to poor down the front of her pretty white blouse. She stood there for a minute, shaking. She was obviously in some pain. I launched into a heavy line of apologies as I ran to the counter asking for iced water and napkins. I rushed back to the stunned girl's side.

    “Are you okay? Are you okay? Oh my gosh, I am so sorry. Are you hurt?” I just kept on prattling on, wondering if she had a third degree burn under her stained silky blouse. I took the ice water and poured it on to the napkin and, without thinking, began dabbing the girl's front.

    I still didn't connect the dots when she gave me a new, frightened look. Her face paled, and I suddenly had a giant ball of a fist under my chin. I went from dabbing this very pretty girl's chest in concern, to nearly giving a very girlish squeal. I was pulled around by color to face a very large man.

    Now, I work out and am in great shape. This man, was a lot bigger and a lot angrier than me though. I may be skilled at fighting, but this man had just seen his girlfriend fondled by another man. He was ready to fight, whether or not if I was.