In Love With a Vampire

Chapter Thirty-One

Maria winced when she made contact with the cool wall of their destination building. They were currently outside Scanton High, their eyes darting everywhere for any sign of life. Maria sucked in air through her teeth before leaning from the wall and bending to assess their surroundings. She squinted, employing her vampire abilities to see if they were expecting any surprises during their heist. Once she was satisfied that the high school grounds were empty, she allowed her back to make contact with the cool wall once more. A moan escaped her throat.

“I can go in alone. Just tell me what I need to get.”

Maria looked up at Seth with widened eyes. These were the first words he had uttered since he appeared in the middle of Lory’s and Pete’s living room. He had not spoken since and when Maria had suggested that he should go home, that she could handle the task ahead of them alone, Seth had simply taken Maria’s hand and squeezed it. A blush had crept on Maria’s face at the intimate gesture. Still, Maria could not help but question Seth’s true intentions. Why had he not asked any questions? Why was he simply going along with everything she wanted? How was he not horrified by the m******e scene he had encountered at Lory’s and Pete’s?

“No, we go in together. I just need…I just need to catch my breath…”

Maria had feigned strength in front of Lory and Pete earlier. Yes, the human blood had replenished some of her strength. She was certain that she could tap into her vampire abilities if need be but she was still very weak. Her body felt feathery as if a strong gust of wind could whisk her away to oblivion. Without warning, Maria let out a loud whimper before breaking into uncontrollable sobs.

“I have failed her…I have failed my family…my ancestry…I have failed.”

Maria attempted to breathe to no avail. She rubbed a palm over her chest and forced air into her lungs but she still felt a dominant clog in her chest. She closed her eyes and allowed the image of her mistress lying helplessly on a bed to daunt her. She had one job to do her entire life, a job that was meant to bring honor to any Hand. Now here she was, fetching supplies that would not save her mistress. According to her lessons with Ma’, wolf bites were fatal to vampires.

“It should have been me…I should be on that bed…I should be the one fighting for my life…”

Maria banged her fist against the wall causing tiny rubbles to emerge from their unsteady structures. They fell on both teenagers, one who was hunched over and struggling to breathe through her crying and the other whose hand was stretched out ready to console the other but unsure where to start. Maria felt warmth on her shoulder. This warmth spread throughout her being commanding her nerves to be still. She slowly raised her head and saw Seth’s hand on her shoulder. It took her a while, but she finally noticed that she could breathe again.

A single touch, that is all it had taken.

“No it shouldn’t…you are where you meant to be…Do you know how much I want to freak out right now? I want to scream, cry, punch a wall, call the cops, call the f*****g president, check myself into an asylum-"

“Go home?”

Seth sucked in air through his teeth before releasing a dry, unsettling chuckle. Maria noticed that his eyes were glassy with unshed tears and that he was shaking. He was scared, scared of what he had just witnessed, scared of what they were going to do, scared that he was there, with her.

“Yeah, my parents are traveling around the world. They left me in charge saying I was old enough to be the man of the house. A seventeen-year-old is not a man, at least not yet. But oh well, God knows I have been a man all my life.”

Maria felt her heart break a little at these words. Seth’s voice was laced with a tangible agony that made her forget all her woes. She brought her hands to his face and began to lightly stroke them. She bit her lip when she noticed Seth’s body becoming still under her touch. At that moment she felt…powerful. She possessed the ability to bring calm into chaos, to make sense of the nonsensical.

“When I saw you, wailing, in despair…I forgot…I forgot my own fear, my own shock, I forgot that I was just a boy trying to get home after a night of not seeing a girl I like…no, a girl I really like…”

Maria blinked causing a stray tear to meander down her cheek. Seth brought his thumb to her face and wiped the tear away. Maria surprised herself by grabbing the thumb and bringing Seth’s hand to her face. She surprised herself further by planting a kiss in the middle of Seth’s open palm. Seth shivered at the contact before using his free hand to lift Maria’s face.

“You are so beautiful…”

Maria opened her mouth to speak but no words came out, just a tiny, soft croak. Seth leaned in, his eyes resolute on Maria’s lips. Maria, yielding to the desire that was bubbling in the pit of her stomach, closed her eyes anticipating the kind of contact she had only ready in her sister’s books. But then when Seth’s lips brushed gingerly against hers, she backed away hitting the wall, hard. Her eyes flew open and she felt a pang of despair when she saw Seth’s crestfallen face.

“I can’t…My mis- I mean Donna needs me and I’m here giving in to my feelings disregarding her needs…My duty is to her and you…you are a distraction I cannot afford to keep.”

Maria was panting. Her heart was beating so fast, so hard that she half expected to see it popping out of her chest. What had she been thinking? Giving in to her wants? With a human no less? She had gained a taste for human blood now, what if got hungry and hurt Seth? A boy she liked, no really liked?

“What do you mean by duty? And are the supplies not for Jim? He is the one with a mangled leg. From what I saw your friend was barely nicked by…by…shit what was that thing? What sort of monster does that to humans? Why is Jim not in a hospital and where did that thing…that thing that completely tore apart those humans go?”

Maria had the sudden urge of knocking Seth out cold. He had a right to ask these questions and the fact that he had not done so had unnerved Maria but now that he was ready to ask them, Maria wished he had not.

“I will answer your questions, all of them…I promise. But now, now I need us to get inside the school building and fetch what we can from the nurse’s office.”

“Maria…if you want my help, you need to tell me what we are up against.”

“We? There is no we…I told you to go home.”

“Why? Cause you can handle this? You can barely stand straight and I can tell that you are weak. I am here because for some reason

I cannot get you out of my f*****g head. I have chosen to be here, to help, so let me. Tell me why Jim and your friend are not at the hospital. Tell me what sort of animal did that to those guys.”

“Do you trust me?”

Maria watched Seth as he ground his teeth and noisily scratched his scalp.

“I do not know you, how can I trust you?”

Maria did not know how to respond to this so she kept quiet. Seth let out a heartfelt sigh before gesturing for them to head inside the school.

“Let’s use the boy’s locker room window. Doubt Gary makes rounds there and it will give us a clear shot to nurse Dee’s office.”

Maria’s face suddenly turned red.

“You are awfully familiar with your nurse…”

“What?”

“You called her Dee instead of Diana…”

“No one calls nurse Dee Diana, have you met her? She is so cool and hot at the same time.”

They were scaling the wall leading to the boy’s locker room window. Maria rolled her eyes at the comment before lifting the window’s latch and letting herself into the boy’s locker room. She then leaped to the floor of the locker room with much ease earning an impressed whistle from Seth.

“Do you break into places often?”

Seth landed next to Maria whose eyes were fixated on the floor. Her face had gotten redder, it almost matched the color of her hair.

“What do you mean she is cool and hot at the same time?”

Seth furrowed his eyebrows at the question.

“What are you talking about?”

Maria suddenly lifted her face and took a step towards Seth.

“You said the nurse was cool and hot at the same time. What does that mean?”

A smile crawled on Seth’s lips. Maria, thrown off by the smile, began feeling silly. She shook her head to regain her focus. She then started making her way towards the boy’s locker room door. Her nose scrunched, how did that place still reek hours after those boys went home?

“Are you jealous?”

“What?”

“Slow down will you?”

“Have I not stressed the urgency of our task?”

“Oh my God, you are jealous!”

In one fluid motion, Maria turned, grabbed a fistful of Seth’s shirt, and planted a kiss on his lips.