|
|
|
Title: Bite Me: Chapter 2
Author: Mika Kitsune (Me)
Time: Days on and off
Rating: PG-13 for language
Point Of View: Collin's- 1st person
Summary: "Hunger was becoming a very constant feeling recently, a deep throbbing need in the pit of my empty stomach that ached for the blood of anything that had some to offer."
"Chapter 2"
“Cayden’s an idiot!” Sara was bouncing around the room with Cayden right on her heels. “Cayden’s an idiot!"
“Give it back, Sara!” I watched as my brother tried desperately to get his first test of the year back from the brat. So far he’d only been successful in tiring himself out and amusing her to no end.
“Cayden made a D on his test. And in Pre-Cal too!” Sara giggled cruelly, waving the paper in the air. The D was a bright red slash that scarred the top of the paper. “So how many times are you going to take that class before you finally make a C?”
“As many times as I have to. Give it back!”
I turned up the volume of my CD player, trying to drown them out. The blaring music in my ears barely touched the racket they made as they crashed through the apartment. There was no point in hiding in my room. It was obvious that Sara was going for a twofer, trying to annoy both Cayden and me in the same act. She would just follow me and trash everything in her path.
She perched herself on top of the entertainment center and laughed, her blonde hair flying around her face wildly. “Come and get me, stupido.”
Cayden hissed and jumped for her, fangs bared and ready for the kill. I snatched the cuff of his pants leg and jerked him back onto the sofa on which I sat. Sara’s blue eyes went wide. She hadn’t expected him to be that angry or that fast. The knowledge that if he’d so much as gotten with her range he would have torn her apart passed visibly over Sara’s face and she quickly retreated to her room.
"Che cosa avete fatto quello per? La femmina piccola si è meritata che cosa avrebbero fatto," he spoke rapidly, English lost in the recesses of his mind.
"That's just the way she is, Cayden. You know that. Cool it."
Red spread into the whites of his eyes. His breathing became heavier and his teeth gleamed ivory. I sharply tugged the cuff of his pants again. "Cool it."
The red receded a bit. "Fine." He crossed his arms and looked away. "It's Friday. When are we going hunting? You promised we'd go Tuesday." He sounded bitter that I'd broken my word but there hadn't been much I could do. The papers hadn't been going smoothly at all. I seemed to be losing my touch because every time I thought I was completely finished I found out that I'd done something wrong and I'd have to start the entire process over again.
"It's only the first week of school. We shouldn't really miss-"
"I'm hungry, Collin. Really, really hungry." He screwed his eyes shut and tugged at his hair. "I keep looking at people and scenting them out from everyone else. I keep thinking about how I can get them away from the others, herd them someplace where they can't scream for help and I can eat in peace. You’ve got to take me to eat, Collin, or I’ll hurt someone."
I pursed my lips and glanced out a window. The sky was carpeted with a thick layer of dark grey and probably would be for the remainder of the day at least. After a week of sunshine, Chicago was finally giving us a break. We would be able to hunt at full power without any of our senses dulled. The entire week had been sunny, contrary to what the damn weather report promised daily. I imagined the reporter would be gloating just then that his predictions had been correct after all. "I don't want to raise attention to ourselves so soon..." I hesitated, but another look at Cayden's withdrawn face told me there was no real choice. "Fine. Go get dressed." Cayden scrambled from his seat beside me and to his room, slamming the door behind him.
Today was Friday and the weekend, coupled with the freshly finished batch of forged documents I’d made up, seemed to be looking up at this point.
I heard Cayden shuffle around quickly in his room as he gathered his more ragged clothing. He’d need his most torn, ill-used shreds of cloth he could find, I was sure. Regardless of the usually gentle nature he possessed, he would probably be tearing into whatever he caught with a viciousness that would blind him to any grime or blood that got on his clothes. For that matter, I’d probably be doing the same thing. Hunger was becoming a very constant feeling recently, a deep throbbing need in the pit of my empty stomach that ached for the blood of anything that had some to offer.
Stretching on the couch, I took one last long gaze at the thick layer of clouds that overshadowed the sky. I smiled. The hunger would finally be satisfied and my brother's escalated levels of anger would be lowered- at last.
I headed for my room, snatching an old t-shirt and a ripped pair of jeans from my dresser. I wouldn’t be needing shoes for this. Cayden bounded into my room as I finished pulling my shirt on over my head. There was a fine tremor to his body as excitement flowed through him. “Where are we going, Collin?”
“Waterfall Forest. It seems to be the biggest forest surrounding Chicago and it’s only a little bit away from here. I thought you liked those jeans.” I eyed his pants for a moment. They were stonewashed with magic-markered words filling nearly every centimeter of space. I personally hated the jeans, but Cayden had had them for years and refused to part with them.
Cayden shrugged. “I haven’t washed my clothes recently so these were all I had left. Let’s just go! So what if I lose a pair of pants? I’ll make another.”
“Hm.” I pulled out a second pair of my jeans and tossed them to him. “Put those on and then we’ll leave.” Cayden opened his mouth to protest and I raised a hand to silence him. “Just do it.” He’d hate himself later when blood stains covered his favorite pair of pants and would end up whining for days about their loss. It was better to cut off that particular road before anyone had a chance to travel down it. He quickly shimmied out of his jeans and into the new pair, kicking off his mud covered tennis shoes and pulling them back on again in record time.
“Ready!” He smiled proudly. I grabbed my car keys and headed out the door, not bothering to leave a note for Peter and Sara. They’d figure out what we were doing when we didn’t come home tonight. They wouldn’t worry about us anyway.
The only things I really hate about Chicago, New York and all other big cities are the parking garages. Layer upon layer of cement were piled stories high with only about twelve feet of space between the layers. It had yet to convince me that my car was safe in these layers so I always park on the top, a pain in itself. I knew that getting there in no time wouldn't be a problem if I just used my vampiric abilities, but that ran the risk of someone seeing. Since there were so many corners in the parking buildings you were never quite sure who was watching. So Cayden and I had to be completely normal as we took the slow elevator.
Cayden usually hums to the annoying elevator music. Today he started to fidget. He intently watched as the dull orange light moved up each number as we rose in stories. “Come on,” he muttered as we stopped to let someone else on the elevator. We held our breaths until they got off. “Would you shut up?” Cayden finally snapped at the music that droned through the speakers.
“Cool it, Cayden. We’ve only been in here for a couple of minutes at most.”
He tossed a glare at me over his shoulder, but pursed his lips and kept quiet. When we finally made it to our level he dashed out of the elevator and to the car. We were lucky no one else was up there at the moment. “Come on!”
Just to piss him off, I took my time getting to the car, gazing around at the dreary day’s surroundings as if admiring them. He growled, and I almost laughed but somehow managed to contain myself. I unlocked the doors with my little remote control keychain and slid into my seat, smiling.
“You’re not funny, Collin. I have half a mind to start up with you about that one.” Cayden slid into the passenger’s seat and slammed his door. He crossed his arms and glared out a window. There have only been a few times in our lives when he reminded me so much of, well, me.
“Your face is going to start aching if your keep that frown up this entire trip.” I started my car and relished the deep purr that it emitted as it sprang to life. My car is my first love.
Cayden’s eyes were big. “Entire trip?” The beginnings of a whine edged into his words. “How far away is Waterfall Forest?”
I shrugged. “About an hour normal speed.”
Cayden’s nose was suddenly less than two inches from my cheek. “But we aren’t going normal speed right? Are we?” The whine was full fledged now, blossomed into that trying pitch that I’ve only heard from babies, teenage girls, and of course Cayden. When I didn’t answer instantly his eyes swelled with tears and he sniffled.
I rolled my eyes. “You’re worse than any pms-y girl I’ve ever seen.” I refused to look at him, but I could smell the saltiness of the tears that I knew were sliding down his face. “When have you ever known me to drive the speed limit?”
Cayden was silent for a moment, then, “Never.” I peeled out of the garage.
I hate driving for long periods of time with my brother. I always have and I always will. I like to go as fast as possible with the windows rolled down, silence, rushing wind, and the hum of my car the only sounds permeating my surrounding area. Cayden does not. He likes the windows rolled up because the wind messes with his hair and he can't stand not talking so instead of trying to make conversation with me- he's learned it's pretty much futile- he turns on the radio full blast.
Usually we have a little bit of a fight over it. Nothing much, just the normal sibling quarrel that ends in a compromise with him getting mostly what he wants. Today, instead of having a pity party, Cayden threw an all out b***h fit. I gave up quickly, letting him have his way without much trouble. Still, we glared out opposite windows the rest of the trip, only looking away from our respective windows when we came to a stop on a tiny clearing just inside the woods. My car isn't designed to go off road so this was about as far in as it was going to go. I wasn't too worried about someone finding it though. The road we'd traveled seemed pretty deserted on the way up, something I'd taken into account when I'd picked which route to take.
Once stopped, Cayden jumped out of the car. I had to run after him and grab his wrist before he went off to hunt, forcing him to look at me. "I'm not sure if I should let you hunt alone this time."
Cayden scowled and tried to yank his arm away, but I kept a tight hold on him. "I'm not a baby and I'm not new at this. Stop treating me like I am." The growl in his voice was low and threatening.
I tightened my grip to keep his attention. "Meet me here at noon tomorrow. Stay away from any humans you smell. As far away as you possibly can get. I don't care if they smell good or if you're just curious, you stay away. Got me?" I thrust him away from me and where he normally would have tumbled to the ground he barely took a step back. His animal instincts were already kicking in. For the next twenty four hours he would be stronger, faster, smarter, better than before in every way.
He flickered away, a dark shadow that melted into the dense forest. I could just barely hear his reply. "Got you."
What was I going to do with him? I supposed there was really no point in worrying now, but the idea of him accidentally stumbling upon someone's camping grounds was disturbing. A little more trust in Cayden's judgment would have been nice, but I couldn't be too sure about it. He wasn't just hungry anymore, he was starving. Even the best of judgment is always clouded when basic needs aren't met.
I sighed then took a deep breath, throwing my head back. These woods would be perfect for hunting. Greenery practically hung from the trees and I could faintly hear the wildlife shifting around, wondering if I was a threat or not. They would know the answer soon enough.
A shiver started at the top of my spine and traveled down to my toes. I could finally release myself and be the monster I was in these woods. I didn't have to pretend to anyone here, even myself. I popped my fingers and crouched, closing my eyes and scenting the air again. Somewhere in this forest was at least one family of deer, a large family at that. They aren't my favorite meal, but they're a meal regardless. I almost wanted to smile, but didn't.
In my mind it became not only a matter of survival, but a game, a game of life and death. How fast could I catch the largest deer, I wondered? Would they ever see me coming? "Three..." my voice was noticeably changed, a couple of octaves deeper I think. “Two... One." I tore through the forest never catching myself on an outstretched limb or tripping over a bush. It was almost as if I knew this place by heart when this was my first visit. Foolishly I wondered if I closed my eyes would I be able to keep this pace. I know of course that I wouldn't but it was a thought.
Wind created by my speed tugged at my hair and clothes. I felt stronger with each movement, faster every time my feet pounded against the earth. This was almost freedom. Almost. And once I fed the hunger wouldn't be able to control me either and my release would be complete. I changed my direction as the musky scent of the deer grew closer. I wanted to run first. Running has always been my favorite thing to do, even when I was alive. When we played soccer in the neighborhood lot I could outrun everyone else with ease. I wasn't free to go as far as my body would allow anymore and I think that's what I hated most about being a vampire.
It was humid today. I could taste the coming rain as it hazed through the air. The sensation of the mist hitting my face was almost enough to give me goose bumps. I loved days like that one. I could run forever if that day could only last that long. I think I ran for hours because suddenly the dim shadows were getting dimmer and everything around me had darkened. Either the little rays of sun that managed to sneak between the trees were setting or the clouds had thickened significantly. I'd have to get on the deer family soon if I didn't want them to move off too far. I stopped and took a deep breath. I must've gone farther than I'd thought; the smell wasn't nearly as close as it should have been. Southeast, I determined, heading off in that direction.
The musky smell of the deer grew closer and I slowed, crouching lower and lower. When the animals came into sight I silently padded on the balls of my feet and the tips of my fingers, careful not to so much as disturb a twig.
I'd been right. It was a large family of deer, a group of does and their half grown fawns. If I hadn't waited so long to eat I probably would've cared more than I did, but I can't be one hundred percent sure of that. Animals don't have feelings of compassion, especially not while preying on others.
It wasn't hard to tell which one was the dominate female. She was the oldest, maybe nine or ten, and grey speckled her nose with the age. She was already alert, her ears pricked forward, her flag of a tail at full mast, the wisdom in her liquid brown eyes infinite. The other does seemed confused, but followed her example, some of them moving their fawns away. I smiled. Smart girl. I hadn't even made a sound and she already knew something was amiss in her forest. She already knew that someone was going to die.
Her ear swiveled in my direction and her eyes followed suite; I knew it was my only chance to attack. Her eyes bore into mine and the knowledge that she would die today was there. In a split second a leapt for her. She went down like a rock and, because I couldn't break her neck with my teeth like the big cats, I used my hands instead. She was dead before her heart realized it'd stopped beating. I sank my fangs into her neck, piercing her jugular. Blood gushed into my mouth in a hot wave of fluid, bathing my throat and rousing my hunger further. My fingers dug into her course fur, holding her firmly in place while I drank to my content. All too soon it seemed like all of her blood was drained away. Had I really been that hungry? I dropped the corpse and kicked some dirt and leaves over her body. Hunters or campers that happened upon her would find it very odd that she didn't have any blood left, I was sure.
"Do I hunt again now or wait until morning?" I asked the cool, sticky air surrounding me. I didn't really need to hunt again, but one more kill wouldn't be a bad thing if I wanted to be on the safe side. Going without eating for so long would not be an option for Cayden and me anymore. I leaned against a tree and sighed loudly, wondering if it would be weird to lick the blood stains off my shirt and deciding that it would. "Tomorrow morning then."
A soft breeze touched my face, mussing with my hair. I wondered briefly if Cayden was complaining about the humidity and what it was doing to his hair, perfectly primped and groomed this morning and now surely frizzed out. A new scent caught my attention away from my thoughts. It wasn't of the forest at all. This scent was soap and shampoo (maybe vanilla scented?) with the slightest hint of cat and a stench that burned my nose. It was probably just a camper (most hunters don't smell like vanilla) who was looking for a place to set up for the night. Somehow though the smell seemed so familiar. I had to investigate. Leaping up into the trees lower branches, I held my breath and waited for the smell's owner to pass through my little clearing. The breeze picked up again and other smells that I knew by heart hit me. My eyes widened. When had Peter and Sarah gotten here?
Just then a girl broke through the trees and into my clearing. Her hair was short and auburn and she was dressed in skin tight black clothes and matching hiking boots, not at all the usual attire of a camper. Recognition clicked in my mind and I almost gasped. What the hell was Ying Fa doing here? And why was she dressed like some sort of spy?
The wind picked up and I cringed. Peter and Sarah must have scented her. They were both heading this way and neither of them held any qualms with drinking from humans. s**t.
I didn't know what to do. Having some random guy from school coincidentally meet you in the forest and save you from vampires isn't exactly inconspicuous. But the only other real option was to watch her die and if Cayden found out that I didn't do anything about it...
Peter and Sara, from their scents, were rapidly getting closer so I didn't have time to think of some third option. I jumped down from my spot in the tree and pounced on Ying Fa. A shot rang through the woods and something grazed my arm before we hit the ground. I hissed as my skin made a soft sizzling sound. Immediately something was jammed into my gut, but I pulled Ying Fa closer anyway, ignoring the discomfort.
"If you value your life you will get off of me right now," Ying Fa whispered harshly. She was no longer the bubbly and somewhat reluctant to speak to me girl that I sat next to in History. Her eyes were harsh, colder than an Arctic winter, her lips set in a tight line, her body rigid. The freezing eyes were wide though and I could tell that she hadn't quite expected anything to come flying out of the trees at her.
"And if you value yours you will be a good little human,” I emphasized the word, “and play dead.”
She gave a sharp laugh. “Play dead? Yeah, right. And you’ll just pretend to drink my blood right, leech?” She ground whatever was pressed to my stomach in further. I winced.
Her bluntness caught me off guard. How did she know what I really was? “It’s pretend or the real thing. Others of my kind that would love to eat you are heading this way and if you don’t pretend like I got to you first then they’ll say I have no right to claim you.” I could hear Sara and Peter moving through the trees now. If my heart could beat it would have been pounding like crazy. Why did it seem like I had to make a lot of split second decisions lately? “Give me your hand. I’m going to p***k your finger so that they smell your blood. It won’t be much, just enough to make them smell you.”
She seemed hesitant when we didn’t have time to pause. “How do I know that you won’t attack me as soon as I drop my gun?”
Ah. So that was the thing in my stomach. Little Ying Fa had some explaining to do later. “I swear on my brother’s… life, or whatever you consider it. Existence, that sounds more appropriate. He’d never forgive me if I let something happen to you.”
She watched my face for a moment and I maintained constant eye contact with her. Finally she laid the gun flat so that it was pressed against us both and pulled out her hand from between our stomachs, pressing a slender finger to my lips. “Bite.” I took her hand and pressed the tip of my fang to her finger. Blood swelled to the surface and I smeared it against my mouth then her neck, holding my breath so that I wouldn’t be tempted to take a taste. “Now,” I lowered my lips to her throat and she tensed, “close your eyes and stay very, very still.” She forced herself to relax, but I could still see the strain in her neck, the tightness of her shoulders.
“Hmph! Well, Collin, looks like we weren’t the only ones getting an extra nibble on the side.” I looked up and made a displeased face, finding that it wasn’t hard. Sara was standing with her hands on her hips not three feet in front of me. Her eyes were bright red and her fangs pressed against her lower lip. She’d been ready for dinner. I sat up, keeping Ying Fa close so her gun would stay in its place between us and held her a bit awkwardly in my lap.
“Shut it, Sara. She was just the first thing I came across.” Reviewing my words, I hoped that I didn’t sound like I was completely lying. I’d always been good at lying, but even the best liars get nervous.
Sara rolled her eyes, her hands moving from her hips to wave exasperatedly in the air. “So much for abstinence. At least now you can’t lecture me about eating humans.”
“Either of us.” Peter had to add his two cents, of course.
“I can lecture you as much as I want to. I’m the one who keeps us under wraps remember? Killing humans on a regular basis is too risky. This was just…” I looked down at Ying Fa’s face, her features slack and nearly lifeless, and wrinkled my nose. “This was an accident.”
Peter came a little closer than Sara, too close. He was within my boundaries and I didn’t like it. “If it’s an accident then you wouldn’t mind sharing.” He took a deep breath and seemed to enjoy the smell more than I wanted him to.
A growl leapt into my throat and I pulled the girl tighter to my chest. “She’s mine.” I lowered my face to her neck and licked the edge of the blood I’d put there, my eyes never leaving Peter. They would not get Ying Fa. Not if I could help it anyway.
Peter put up his hands and stepped back. “Fine, fine. Keep your food. It doesn’t smell that wonderful anyway.” He was lying. I’d have made several pacts with the devil for a larger taste of Ying Fa’s blood than I’d just had. But of course Cayden was of higher priority. He might have been talking about the silver's smell, but even so her blood was worth being near it.
They turned and flitted off into the shadows. “See you, Col.” A shudder ran up my spine. I hate it when Sara calls me that, but I didn’t have the time to go after her and make her pay. I had to do something with Ying Fa.
“Stay still,” I whispered, waiting for Sara and Peter’s smells to fade enough for me to feel safe. Once they had I slipped my hand between us and easily pinched the sides of the gun together.
Ying Fa immediately jumped up and snatched the gun away. “Damn it! How could I have trusted you?” She examined her gun and sighed, emptying the cartridge in her hand before throwing it to the side. “You ruined it.”
“I don’t want to get shot again.” I’d pretty much figured out at this point that the thing that had hit my arm and had it burning like hell was a silver bullet. Just that one bullet wouldn’t have enough silver to poison me badly, but it was going to burn for at least the next couple of days.
“Fair enough I guess.” Ying Fa scuffed a black hiking boot against the ground, her hand never leaving her pants pocket after placing her ammo there. “Wipe your face.”
“What?”
“My blood is all over your mouth. It’s weird so wipe it off.”
I laughed but licked my lips. A squeamish vampire slayer. Who could’ve dreamt it? “Better?”
She made a face. “Licking your lips didn’t make it less weird.” A sigh. “I guess I can’t kill your coven tonight after all.” She said it so casually, the same way she would comment on how late it was getting. If I hadn’t been almost a hundred years old I probably would have shuddered. As it was I found that I didn’t care.
“You have more silver on you than just those bullets. You absolutely reek of it.” My tone and manner was a duplicate of hers.
“Yeah, but that was my favorite gun and now I only have a pistol and knives.” She looked up from her boot and smiled. “Just in case, you know.”
I gave her a skeptical look, almost smiling from the foolish thought that she could ever be fast enough to kill me with a knife. “If you were close enough to stab me you’d be dead before you could blink.”
“Probably, but at least you’d have a knife in your eye and I could die laughing.”
Ying Fa was now officially pegged an odd one. “Do you need a ride home?” Was it a weird question to ask the person that wants to kill you?
She hesitated, chewing her lower lip thoughtfully. “Yeah. My best friend is borrowing my car until his gets out of the shop.”
“How were you planning on getting home?” I could feel another laugh coming on and couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so completely amused with someone before. She was like a cute, goofy puppy that could- would if she had her way- kill me. In so many ways she was like Cayden and in so many others she was his opposite too. It was an interesting combination.
“… Walk.”
Shaking my head, I tried not to snicker and succeeded for the most part. “Unless you live really close I doubt you’d enjoy that particular hiking trip. I can drive you if you want.” There wasn’t much of anything else to do really. Running through the woods all night didn’t sound like an unappealing idea, but it wasn’t particularly productive and I didn’t feel like facing Peter or Sara again for a while.
She chewed a little harder on her lip until I was afraid she would bite too hard and pierce the delicate membrane that held her blood. There’s a point when even the strongest people can’t resist temptation. “Fine, but only until we’re a mile away. I can walk the rest.”
“You trust me enough to drive, but not enough to see your house? I’m hurt.”
She pouted, her lower lip a little swollen from all the biting. “I don’t want to walk, but I don’t want you to return in the middle of the night to eat my clan either. And I don’t trust you at all. What I trust is that my clan will avenge my death should you find that you’re a little hungrier than I thought.”
I beckoned for her to follow me as I began to head for my car. “So you’re lazy, but cautious.” With a healthy dash of the need for revenge, but I didn’t say that out loud.
She seemed angered by my comment, speeding up her shorter stride to match mine like we suddenly were in a contest to get to my car. I could win easily, but watching her scuffle around in her boots was too funny to pass on seeing. If I’d trusted her enough I would’ve offered a piggy back ride to make the going faster, but I wasn’t amazingly comfortable with the idea that she had knives on her person. It doesn’t matter who you are, even if you’re a vampire, getting slashed in the throat is dangerous. Even normal blades could kill us that way if they were pushed all the way through. So we walked- in her case scuttled- around in the woods for about an hour before we were suddenly in front of my car.
Ying Fa ran the tips of her fingers along the bright red side as she made her way to the passenger’s door. “I still can’t believe you have one of these. I’ve never seen one in person before. Jonathan almost had a heart attack when I told him I had even though he’s got more of a taste for speed than a compromise between speed and luxury.”
I shrugged and unlocked the doors, sliding into my seat as she slid into hers. “It’s not much of a compromise.”
She took a deep breath. “It smells like you.”
“The car?”
She nodded. “Yeah. It smells like you. A little like Cayden too, but mostly you.”
I raised an eyebrow and started the car, maneuvering it through the few trees that I’d hidden it behind easily before hitting the road. “Is… that a bad thing?”
“No, not really. It’s like… peppermint, I think. Maybe.” She leaned back comfortably in her seat, adjusting the chair to fit her better. People don’t usually think of Cayden as a tall person, but to Ying Fa he probably was. She was definitely on the shorter side of the measuring stick.
I felt almost obligated to warn her, as a newcomer, about my bad driving habits. “I drive really fast.” It didn’t really cover my driving, but it was good enough.
“Jonathan races cars sometimes. I don’t mind reckless driving as long as you don’t get us caught.”
“I’ve never so much as had a ticket,” I assured her, pushing down on the gas pedal, watching the needle on the speedometer as it rose halfway across its rounded measuring notches in seconds.
“Fine. Drive away."
 Salire · Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 03:45am · 0 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
