Vampire´s Secret

HOUSE

I woke up, a knock on the door, I was still in the same clothes, my body hurt in all places, my mom and I fainted on the couch and stayed there all morning, a second knock on the door made my mom jump up and hold me tight with her hand on my mouth. We stood there in complete stillness and silence.

“Louse?!” a familiar voice asked in a high tone on the other side of the door and me and my mom felt relief. “Hey my lice!” Lugo yelled as soon as we opened the door. “Hungry?” he smiled as he pointed to the bags he was holding.

He entered and behind him, a tall guy followed him. My mom and Lugo entered the kitchen while I stood there looking at the gorgeous specimen entering the house. He looked at me with honey golden yellowish eyes that matched his soft smile, his hair was brown with copper highlights, thick eyelashes gave a shadow on his eyes he rejoiced in my gaze, in my mesmerized eyes fixed on his devastating gorgeous face.

“Will?” Lugo´s voice startled me, he laugh at my reaction and I saw the white perfect teeth for a second.

“Coming…” he replied and walked to the voice, I was left alone for a second in the living room, blushed, embarrassed and hungry I follow the (clearly) man-model to the kitchen.

“...really, this is too much”

“non-sense, please, we were just on the neighborhood” Lugo smiled at my mom, she blushed and I was happy I was not the only one having a rough time “Come sit Ruth, hope you are hungry”

My stomach growled as I saw the delicious food in front of me, lasagna, pasta, garlic bread and a soft wine-like drink. I sat and my mom served me a bit of everything.

“So, Ruth, this is my son, Will” Lugo mentions and I repeat that name in my head at least 40 times.

The meal was amazing, Lugo and Will mentioned they ate at the restaurant before coming here so me and my mom were the only ones eating. I tried to focus on my food but inevitably my eyes wandered back to Will. I noticed his gaze at me when I was not looking and that definitely made me extra clumsy with the pasta.

“So, how are you finding the house?” Lugo asked and my mom and I shared a guilty look before turning to him.

“We fell asleep on the couch,” my mom said and Lugo laugh hard

“Will, take Ruth on a house tour please” Will nodded and waited for me to stand up and follow him, he crossed the salon walked to the stairs and climbed them quickly.

I saw his slender body moving with grace and his long hands opening the door to my left, a room with a queen size bed and a bathroom was there, the window overlooked the back garden, it was a cute simple square, a big fence guarded us from the forest behind and a tree with a swing gave shadow to a small fire pit.

Will waited for me to peek into the closet and the small cabinet before I nodded and he guided me downstairs to a room next to the living room, I saw the couch we collapsed on and realized my iPod was there, I quickly grabbed it and entered the studio. It was a small room, with a desk, a chair, and a reading sofa, french doors led to the patio, but my heart melted as soon as I saw the floor-to-ceiling library, at least a hundred books were neatly put in the wood squares, my fingers caressed the covers while reading familiar titles, a click brought me back to the present as Will opened the door behind me to show me a small but functional bathroom. But my eyes returned to the bookshelf, I took out one.

“Favorite one?” Will asked me, I got startled by his proximity, he was over my shoulder, I carefully turned around so I wouldn't touch him. “Sorry, I scared you” he took a step back, his voice was soft and had a little accent.

“No, it is one I have not read before”

“Humans usually go to the things familiar to them”

“Humans?” I asked with a smirk

“People” Will corrected himself and scratched the back of his head.

“All in order?” Lugo asked and I saw my mom and him entering the studio “So, my lice, here is some vital things you need for Monday” He put down some papers on the desk. “Come Will, it is late, let them rest”

I extended my hand, Lugo shook it and Will held my fingers with extreme care and planted a soft kiss on my knuckles, he winked at me making me blush, and left with his dad.

I was not able to calm myself, I was fully awake, my mom snores lightly next to me, I was with her on the queen bed, on the opposite end of the bed she was able to close her eyes, she felt safe. Me, on the other side, I was done crying but that did not calm me down. I have my Ipod playing Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know? in a slowed and reverb version, and no… I did not want to know. The rain fell hard on the outside of the house, it was cold, but I felt fine. The thing that was keeping me awake was the next day's perspective.

The papers were my acceptance letter to highschool and my mom's work schedule at a local lawyer's office. I felt sick with anxiety and nervousness. I hated to be the new girl, hated to be entering mid-semester and hated that I stupidly asked “Are you in the same class?” to Will which he replied with a “I´m homeschooled Ruth, sorry, you are on your own.”.

“UGH” I growled to my pillow, my mom moved and turned around as I was too loud. I rolled over once more and tried to sleep. I probably slept less than 3 hours when my mom softly moved me to wake me up.

A thick fog was surrounding the forest and the house. I had never seen something like that before, all I could see out the window was a silhouette of the things I saw with clarity yesterday.

“Gloomy” my mom said

“Wuthering Heights vibes” I said and made her chuckle.

We did all the morning routine and went off to our destinations. My mom drove me to school, we were in complete silence, watching over our shoulders, checking all around, she kissed me and put her forehead against mine. She mentioned something about going to shop some new clothes and it made me happy, a shop date with Mom was the one thing I could cling to finish this day.

I entered the brick and metal beam building and checked to get my schedule, I walked around the halls finding the classrooms, and eventually (thankfully) mid-break came. All the fog lifted and gorgeous sunlight came through the forest, I bought a sandwich and a Coke and sat outside on a bench, listening to my iPod until a group of people surrounded me. A red-haired woman and a blonde one looked me up and down. And a pair of guys were next to them like bodyguards.

“Can I help you?” I said taking out my headphones, they gave me another dirty look with a theatrically eyebrow lifted and all. I swallowed and forced myself to look at them and not to my clothes.

“You are new right?” the blonde one said in a high-pitched tone “We are here to break down the rules for you”

“Hey! Here you are!” a guy came into the group, he high-fived one of the guys and hugged him by the shoulders the red-haired girl. “Hi honey” he kissed her and looked at me “So, new girl, what class do you have after this one?”

“Literature” I answered reluctantly

“Me too! He cheered, come, I will take you!” he kissed red-hair and extended a hand to help me get on my feet.

We left the group and when I looked back the blonde one gave me the dirtiest look. I felt so horrible, this was something that I was going to pay later, after about 30 different schools I had a PHD in reading this kind of teens. My savior noticed my glance and nervousness and smiled softly.

“Don´t mind them, they are all bark and no bite”

“So you are aware that you saved me from the c*****e” I joked

“Meh” he shrugged, “This is a small town, most of us know each other, my girl and her BFF are bored, they wanted a new item to pick”

“Please, I volunteer, does it count as social service?” I snarled

“hahahahaha” his laugh was contagious and I caught it, he was truly adorable “Here we are” he pointed at the room and dragged me to a seat next to him “Nobody seats here anyway, I think I stink or something, by the way, Alex”

I took his hand in mine, it was as warm as he, I mumbled a soft “Ruth” and he made the cutest hand gesture like he was taking out a hat to bow to me. We took the class and exchanged a few notes, he was handsome, with greenish eyes, dark brown hair, and the funniest more easygoing personality this guy was the best guy I have ever met. “Will” my mind whispered, and yes, Will was the best… the best-looking one, but personality-wise wise Alex had no competition.

After class, the same bullies that Alex saved me from were expecting us, red hair took him in her arms and kissed her with sickening depth. Alex took a step back and presented us like he was my best friend or my lost brother.

“This goddess is Majo, my girl” he presented her pointing at her with both hands and bowing “Here my sister Alana, and my guys Jon and Rock” I couldn´t matched the awful blonde to be related to him, honestly but well… I have no right to talk about family. “And this girl is Ruth, she is so funny! We need to include her in our group!” he excitedly announced and only Rock seemed to agree with him.

“Hi all, I need to go now, but thank you so much for the introduction”

“We will walk you to your car” Alex said smiling and puting his arm on my back, movement that caused Majo to look to me with a killer frown.

I couldn´t move, Alex was bigger than me and his arm was firm on me, we started walking to the parking lot, which reminded me of two things. First, I didn´t have a car, so no way I was going to be able to escape. Second, my mom… she never told me where should I meet her, I don't have a phone and I am lost in this town.

Panic. Pure panic twisted my insides while I saw the parking lot closer. I was blushing and having trouble breathing and Alana caught that, she started to smile. “That´s it” I tought “She saw a weakness and like a predator she is gonna jump to it”. And then. Him.