A/N: I'm going to try and post once every few days. This chapter was originally longer but I split it in two. BTW not all my chapters will be as long as the first two.
As always please review.
Chapter 3
The next day Vlad was just hanging around like a bad smell going from room to room disturbing people wherever he went. Bertrand had given him another day off training to recover from his black out that not even he could explain. When Vlad finally settled in his room and sighed loudly. He couldn't find anything to do as every time something did come to mind, he had to dismiss it because it reminded him of Erin.
He reached into his school bag and pulled out his planner (timetable), Vlad looked at the clock and worked out art would be starting soon. Miss McCauley may have told him not to go to lessons be he liked art and was surprisingly good at it. What was more important though, was that it was something that he'd always done alone without Erin so it shouldn't spark any painful memories.
He arrived just as the bell went signalling the start of class. Vlad took his place in front of a blank canvas awaiting his teacher's instructions.
"Settle down class! Today we're going to be painting on a canvas on whatever topic you want." Mr Soya told them. The pupils around the room, who like Vlad was sitting behind a canvas, started smiling. Easy they all thought but the teacher hadn't finished his instructions. "But… you can only use one colour." The smiles around the room turned into frowns and even several groans were heard. Not so easy they corrected themselves.
Vlad stared at his blank canvas trying to think of something to paint while the rest of class beavered about collecting the necessary material to complete their artwork. He couldn't think of anything worthwhile to paint, nothing that was worthy of his attention so he reluctantly picked up a thick paint brush and a pot of black paint and started to paint line after line in no particular order or pattern hoping they would inspire some creative ideas.
Vlad most have zoned out for a few minutes because when his mind finally realized what he was doing it was too late and it was already completed.
In front of Vlad was no longer a blank canvas. It wasn't even a canvas with random black lines on it like he'd intended. It was a surprisingly simple but elegant portrait of the one thing that was worthy of his attention – Erin. Each brush stroke was précised and flowed from one to another perfectly. He hadn't taken back or gone over a single stroke more than once. It was clever as when you examined it closely, it was nothing more than a jumble of lines not forming any familiar shapes or patterns but when you took a step back to look at it as a whole it was stunning; Vlad was sure if he did breathe, his breath would have been taken away. The thick lines only formed the outline of her face; it was the spaces between the lines that held the details. The black on white made her beautiful features stand out even more. Vlad had painted Erin as he saw her every day, the most beautiful women in the world.
Vlad heard a wolf whistle over his shoulder and whipped around to find most of the class and his teacher admiring the flattering painting of Erin Noble – his long lost love. Vlad knew if he was human, he'd be blushing bright red in embarrassment by now so he quickly ripped it off the wooden stand with his bare hands and fled from the art room. Maybe going to lessons was a bad idea he thought in hindsight.
Once out of sight he sped up too his room and slammed the door behind him. He leant against the rough wooden frame for support. How could one woman, one breather women affect him so much? He was supposed to be a cold heartless vampire, he shouldn't be feeling all these emotions, he shouldn't be able to love her… but he did.
"Is everything ok master Vlad?" Zultan asked. Vlad jumped slightly forgetting Zultan lived in his room but relaxed slightly knowing someone wasn't sneaking up on him.
"Yes." He lied not wanting to explain.
"Shouldn't you be in lessons?" Vlad made an annoyed sound, Zultan was right though, as usual. If he didn't get back soon Mr Soya would surely hunt him down and he hadn't had a chance to deposed of the painting yet.
He didn't want to destroy it but neither did he want anyone else to see it. He scanned around his room for a suitable hiding place. His eyes settled on his coffin. No-one would look in there, it was his private place. He scrunched it up and stuffed it inside before locking it tightly away; just like he did with his feelings.
Vlad returned to school trying to avoid people hoping rumours of his painting hadn't already spread around school. The bell rang overhead signalling the start of lunch time. The halls suddenly became packed with everyone pushing and shoving, screaming and shouting as they fought to get to the dinner hall first. It sickened Vlad how greedy breathers were to get food, Vlads mind was always on blood but he resisted from running after it at every opportunity even when surrounded by it so why couldn't they? The only exception was Erin; she would always walk slowly with Vlad simply enjoying their time together.
He was alone now amongst endless swarms of hungry pupils, walking slowly down his own solitary path until he got to the dinner hall where he sat on one of the round tables alone. He didn't bother to unpack his lunch, he didn't even need to eat breather food to survive, he only did because it made him feel normal, so he could fit into Erin's lifestyle but without her, it all seemed pointless.
As he sat pondering his own thoughts a group of giggly girls approached him destroying his tranquillity.
"Hey Vlad." They all spoke together in harmony smiling at him with each one trying to look the most attractive.
"Leave me alone." He relied bluntly not even giving them the satisfaction of looking at them. The girls just smiled even more, they liked boys who played hard to get. It made it more… interesting. They all sat around Vlads table, much to his disliking ignoring his request to be left alone.
"We were wondering who your taking to the dance?" One of them eventually asked after much staring at Vlad.
"Since Erin's out of picture." Another girl added which got a chorus of agreement from around the table; the girls were always jealous of Erin for having Vlad as a boyfriend.
"I'm not going." They just ignored that too.
"So… Which one of us will you take?" They asked with some of girls making final adjustments to their clothing to try to make their breasts look bigger, it always worked on the other boys as they would be drooling at their feet to go to the dance with them but obviously Vlad was more resistant to their feminine charms.
"None. I'm. Not. Going." He repeated again slowly adding empathise on each word so they got it into their thick skulls; he wasn't going to the dance.
"You have to go! All the coolest kids will be there and you're like the hottest boy in school." They begged trying to persuade him. Vlad just rolled his eyes; he wasn't sure what he hated more; being a loser at Stokely or being popular here.
"Single now too."
"Yeah that Erin girl was so last year. I can't believe you stayed with her for so long."
"Must be sad looking that hideous." a final girl commented.
Vlad couldn't take it any longer. He could feel his fangs itching to come out and dig deep into their necks so he could drink the warm, delicious blood that flowed around them but he managed to resist… just. Instead he decided he would throw every foul mouthed, rude insult at them that he had in his vocabulary but Miss McCauley intervened.
"Girls! How dare you say such things. Report to my office immediately!" The head teacher shouted at them making the group of girls jump, their giggly nature was quickly replaced by fear that their whole conversation was just overhead by the head teacher! They tried to open their mouths to pour out a stream of excuses but Miss McCauley wasn't going to let them. "No excuses. Go!" and with that they quickly scurried away leaving Vlad quietly hissing after them. Miss McCauley moved to sit down next to Vlad in a casual way. "You know their only jealous of Erin right? What they said isn't true." She spoke softly to him in an attempt to comfort him.
"What do you want? My private life is no-one else's concern. Especially yours." He rudely barked at her. Miss McCauley however was unfazed by it and took it in her stride.
"Let's talk about what happened in art…"
"Nothing Happened! I drew a picture that's it." He explained only just keeping a lid on his anger.
"Can I see it?" she asked kindly.
"No." Vlad replied instantly not having to think about his answer, what he'd painted was very private and personal. They both stopped arguing and waited in silence hoping the other one would break the awkwardness by speaking first. Miss McCauley eventually did.
"Look Vlad… This whole thing with Erin is clearly more than a high school crush and you obviously still have strong feeling about her but she left for a reason. You haven't told me why so I can only guess but if she doesn't feel the same way you can't force her to love you."
"I know." Vlad said slightly depressed, it seemed as if all hope of getting Erin back was fading. Another silence fell over the teacher and student pleased that they had reached some level of understanding when a news report flashed onto the scattered around the dinner hall that normally showed educational channels.
"We bring this to you live from the air. As you can see an abandoned vehicle was founded on the side of the road where police have said it's a possible kidnapping but on-one has yet heard of any demands. The car is unregistered so the police are asking anyone with any information to come forward. "The new reported said as the helicopter circled the car revelling the smashed window and clear signs of a struggle.
Vlads face froze. Even though he knew it wasn't possible, he was sure his heart stopped. This wasn't just any crap BMW on the news.
It was Erins.
.
