TWO

Two Hours Later

I collapsed on my bed after dropping the shopping bags on the floor. I could hear Ella and Nudge talking in Ella's room. Fang stood in the door of my room. "You just gonna stand there or what?" I asked with my eyes closed. I suddenly felt him sitting next to me. I opened my eyes and saw him leaning over me. He swung his leg over to the other side of me and leaned in a little. I gently bit my lip and slid my arms around his neck. He grinned and started tickling me. "Stop. Fang, stop," I cried while laughing. The door slowly opened and Jeb, my mom, Ella and Nudge poked their heads in as Fang and I fell to the floor but Fang continued to tickle me. "Fang, stop," I giggled. He suddenly pinned me to the floor. "You so suck." He smirked and leaned down a little. He slowly closed the gap between us.

"Maxine Batchelder," Jeb snapped. Fang quickly helped me to my feet. "Would you like to tell me why your principal just called?"

"Not really," I growled. I crossed my arms in front of me. I grabbed Fang's hand and pulled him downstairs to my garden where I never allowed anyone to go in. I locked the door and walked to my roses. I knelt down and pulled on my gloves. Fang sat down on the bench nearby.

"You okay?" Fang asked as the others came down to the door. When I didn't answer Fang sat down next to me while I pruned my roses. "So your name is Maxine?"

"That's what my dad calls me but I changed my name, legally with my mom's permission," I told him.

"What's your name?" he asked softly.

"Maximum Martinez," I told him. "I took my mom's maiden name."

"Well I'm Nickolas Ride but I prefer to be called Fang because I was a vampire for Halloween when I was little," he told me. I smiled and held his hand.

"It fits you," I said softly. I slowly inched closer to him. He slowly touched my hip and leaned in closer. "Are you going to kiss me?" I breathed.

"Yeah," he whispered and closed the gap. I slowly moved closer, moving into his lap and deepening our kiss. I slowly wrapped my arms around his neck. He slowly wrapped his arms around my waist and broke our kiss.

"So what were you doing in detention?" I mumbled.

"Got in a fight," he replied.

"So do you frequent after school detention a lot?" I asked curiously.

"Nope, you're gonna be on your own for the rest of your time in it," he told me. "I can pick you up though."

I smiled. "So you're willing to hang around school for me?" I asked with a smile.

"I'm willing to suffer your sister's party for you," he murmured and lightly kissed my lips.

"You are the sweetest boy I've ever met," I mumbled, each word separated by kisses. He suddenly picked me up and I wrapped my legs around him. He sat down on the bench and I played with strands of his hair.

"So this is your garden?" he asked.

"I want you to meet someone," I said and pulled him to his feet. I pulled him past the roses, trees, and herbs to a large cage. I pulled him inside and I whistled smoothly.

"Max?" a soft voice asked from the tall trees.

"Max?" a little boy's voice asked.

"Come down, it's safe. Jeb's not around," I called up. Two little blonde kids quickly flew down to us. Fang's eyes widened when he saw their wings. "Fang, meet Angel and the Gasman. Kids, meet Fang." Angel had soft blonde curls and small white wings. Her brother, Gazzy, has spiked blonde hair and brown wings. I gently touched Fang's shoulder. Angel grinned.

"Max, he's like us," she told me. I quickly looked at her.

"You sure," I asked her. Of course, I'm sure, Max, she thought to me. I nodded and looked at Fang. He looked at me and smirked. He shrugged off his leather jacket and unfurled long black wings. He pulled them back in just as I unfurled my long brown wings and my primary and secondary feathers were white, just like hawk feathers. I pulled them back in when I heard Jeb's voice inside the garden. I quickly turned to Angel and Gazzy. "Hide, now," I whispered quickly. "We can't let him find you." They quickly flew back up into the trees. Fang pulled his jacket back on while I pulled on my windbreaker. Jeb, my mom, Ella and Nudge came in.

"Max, we need to talk about what happened this morning," mom told me.

"Okay, I set off a stink bomb during the assembly but it won't happen again," I said defensively.

"That's new," Jeb said. "Are you saying you want to stay at the school?" I smiled and held Fang's hand.

"Yeah," I replied. Jeb smiled. Fang suddenly picked me up and shrugged off his jacket. "Fang, what are you doing?"

"Hello, Jeb," Fang growled. "Nice to see you again."

"Mr. Ride," Jeb said with a smirk. "Long time since I last saw you." Fang growled lowly in his throat and held me bridal style in his arms.

"Who else did you experiment on?" Fang asked. "Nudge, over here." She quickly ran behind him. He shook out his wings and I held onto him.

"Fang," Nudge growled.

"Oh dear," Jeb muttered.

"Up and away, Nudge," Fang said quickly and suddenly flew up to where Angel and Gazzy were. Shockingly, so did Nudge. She had long tawny wings. She landed on the branch above Angel and Gazzy. Angel snuggled into Gazzy's chest, scared. I quickly climbed out of Fang's arms and climbed over to them.

"Max," Angel whispered as she crawled into my lap. "I can hear him."

"I know, baby," I whispered.

"He doesn't want to hurt us anymore," she told me.

"Ange, don't listen to him. He knows you're here so he's sending you those thoughts," I whispered. Nudge sat down next to Fang and he held her close.

"Max, come down, sweetheart," Jeb called.

"Leave them alone, Jeb," mom snapped at him. "You've done enough to those poor kids. Just stop experimenting on them."

"I wasn't going to, Val," Jeb snapped. I slowly set Angel down in Gazzy's lap and flew down to them.

"Promise me you won't," I told him. "Swear on your life."

"I swear, Max. I'm not interested in that type of stuff anymore," he told me. "I love you, Max. My sweet little Max." Fang flew down, carrying Angel and Nudge carrying Gazzy. Fang carefully set Angel down and walked over to me. He gently wrapped his arm around my waist. We suddenly heard the doorbell ring. Ella quickly ran out of the garden.

"Jeb, we should get going. We have reservations," mom said softly and they left. The next thing I knew, Ari, Fang, Iggy and I were sitting on the couch in the living room. Ella, Nudge and Angel were talking on the other couch and Gazzy was hanging out with some other kids that were at the party. The house was extremely crowded. I slowly got up and picked up Ari when I saw how the kids were dancing.

"Come on, kiddo," I said softly. I went and got Angel and Gazzy and took them up to a spare bedroom. I put the three of them to bed. Luckily this room was soundproof so they couldn't hear the party. I went back downstairs and bumped into Dylan.

"Hey, Max," he said with a grin. "Wanna go somewhere quiet?" He tried to touch me but I pushed him away and went to find Fang. Dylan grabbed my arm and pulled me up to my room. He closed the door and pushed me onto my bed. I quickly backed away from him.

"This is not how you get a girl, Dylan," I told him. He suddenly slapped me across my face and I fell back on my bed, holding my cheek. Blood seeped through my fingers. He suddenly grabbed me by my hair and held me up to him.

"I never wanted you, Maximum," he hissed. "Now, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to torture you. Then I'll carry out my orders and have a child with you."

"Stay away from me," I said trying to push him away but he hit me again and again and again and again. The door slowly opened just as Dylan threw me onto the floor. I slowly tried to get up as Fang slipped in unnoticed.

"Had enough, bitch," Dylan spat at me. I spat out bits of blood. Fang suddenly knocked Dylan out and knelt down beside me.

"Max, are you okay?" he asked quickly. He pulled me into his lap and I cradled my left arm against my chest. Iggy, Nudge and Ella quickly came in and saw us. My face was covered with dried blood and my arm and a couple ribs were broken. Other people from the party came up the see what was going on and saw an unconscious Dylan and me all beat up. Fang slowly picked me up and carried me downstairs with the others following. The music immediately stopped as Fang laid me down on the couch. "Someone get Dylan out of here," he growled sitting next to me and holding my hand. Two football jocks went upstairs and carried Dylan out to their car. The rest of the party people left, which left Fang, Iggy, Nudge and Ella here in the living room with me while the three little ones slept upstairs. "Max, tell me what happened," Fang whispered, stroking my bloody hair. I told them everything that happened but slowly because of the pain when I spoke. Iggy touched Fang's shoulder.

"Let me clean her up a bit, see how bad her injuries are," Iggy told him. Fang nodded, knowing something I don't, and got up. Iggy sat down next to me and helped me take off my windbreaker and shirt. I felt strangely comfortable and trusting as he cleaned my wounds. I winced every time he'd touch a broken rib.

"Ow," I cried when he lifted my left arm.

"This looks real bad," he stated. "Broken nose, ribs, and arm." Fang growled in his throat. "We need to get her to a hospital."

"No," I choked out. "Els, call mom and Jeb."

"Why can't we go to the hospital?" Iggy asked.

"She's like us, Ig. She has wings," Fang told him. Ella quickly went into the next room to make the call.

"Well, I think I can set her arm and bandage her cuts and fix her nose but not much else," Iggy said. "Her mom can fix her ribs." Iggy carefully took my arm in his hands. "I'm sorry but this is going to hurt," he told me.

"I know, I've broken my arm before," I choked out, pained. I took a deep breath just as he set it but I still screamed in pain. I hit my head on the armrest and closed my eyes.

"You okay?" he asked, hesitantly.

"Peachy," I said through clenched teeth. "Just get my nose before I punch you." He suddenly set my nose and quickly bandaged my other injuries. I bit my lip as mom and Jeb came in. Ella was sitting with Nudge in the far corner talking quietly.

"Oh my god," mom cried and ran over to me just as Iggy moved away. She quickly sat down next to me and I looked up at her. "Max, what happened?"

"Just some jerk," I told her. "Iggy took care of most of my injuries but I still have broken ribs."

"Okay, we need to move you to my office," she told me. "I have some things in there that can help." I nodded a little and she let Fang pick me up since I refused to let Jeb. Mom led Fang into her office and he laid me on her examination table. My mom's a vet so my legs hung off the table because it was meant for animals. Fang gently held my hand as my mom gave me some Valium to make the pain go away. Fang gently caressed my cheek and occasionally cleaned some blood off my face and hair while my mom fixed me up. I slowly fell fast asleep on the table.