Ch. 2 _ I'm Just Here For The Game

I woke up to the sound of a knock on my door and groggily wiped my eyes. My vision was blurry but when I could see again I realized just how bad the scene from last night had been. The guy I bled still laid across my chest; I pushed him off me onto the floor. Stupid human. Zena was passed out on the living room floor and Morgan and Zeb were still upstairs with the girls they bled, I assumed. I ran a hand through my hair to make it slightly presentable and went to open the door. Vlad was standing there his dark eyes mostly covered by his hair in black jeans and a black hoodie, and from what I could see, a red shirt

"Oh shit Vlad. You were going to walk with me to school. I forgot all about that." I said, "Something had come up last night."

"Are you okay?" he looked shocked and worried.

"Yea I'm fine why?"

"Your lip is bleeding."

I held back the urge to lick the blood off my lip and wiped it off with my thumb, "All better."

I heard a thump coming from the living room and Morgan showed up next to and put his elbow on my shoulder. He came down stairs in pajama pants and no shirt, his hair was a mess and he still had coal in his eyes.

"Lyssa, did you make any coffee?" He yawned and then looked at Vlad, seeing him for the first time, nodded towards him and eyed him suspiciously, "'Sup man?"

Vlad nodded back and I shrugged Morgan's arm off me, "No. I didn't make your stupid coffee. I just woke up. Do it yourself."

"Please Lyssibelle?" He tried to hug me and I tried not to flip him over my shoulder and crack a few of his ribs and instead I simply punched his shoulder. Even though to Vlad it looked like a weak little hit I knew from the way Morgan looked at me I'd hit him pretty hard.

"I don't know who this Lyssibelle chick is but uhh, she ain't making your coffee."

He sighed and walked away into the kitchen. I stood out of the doorway and ushered Vlad inside, "Would you like some coffee?"

He looked nervous and pushed his hands further down into his pockets, "I don't know. We're going to be late for school."

"It'll be okay. I'll get you out of trouble. I promise."

He hesitated and then stepped into the living room. He looked like he would turn and bolt out of my house when he seen the hell that had been unleashed last night. Zena, who was just waking up, crawled off of the guy she bled last night – her boyfriend Zander, and got up off the ground. The stranger I bled last night was still passed out on the floor with my bite mark on his throat. Zeb was coming down stairs with the two girls he and Morgan had bled and he merely walked by without even looking up and pushed the two girls passed Vlad and I and out the door. For a second I thought he would run and go to the police but he just stood there. Zeb walked by back to the living room and up the stairs but before he made it to the top he said, "It was a party dude."

I sighed mumbled an apology to Vlad and walked over into the kitchen where Morgan was making coffee. I sat down at the kitchen table. Vlad took the seat next to mine and Zeb came down again, dressed this time, and sat across from me. Morgan brought the coffee pot and four mugs and plopped down next to me.

"Vlad, my friend Morgan. He spends more time on his hair then I do and he has the world's biggest ego." I introduced them as they poured their coffee, "Morgan, my friend Vlad. I met him yesterday at school."

"If you're thinking about slamming her dude, good luck. Zeb won't let you near her." I reached over and tried to push him out the chair but he fought to finish his sentence, "I dated her and he barely let me hold her hand."

He fell out of the chair with a thud and I turned to see Vlad laughing a little with his cheeks turning a slight shade of red.

"So Alyssa, what's on the agenda for today?" Zeb asked eyeing Vlad.

"Well school for some of us." I replied pouring my coffee.

Zeb laughed and propped his feet up on the table and I looked towards Vlad, "This is my cousin Zeb. He's eighteen so his lucky ass doesn't have to go to school."

He extended his hand to Vlad, "I'm Zebediah Dalon; head of this house hold. And you are?"

Vlad looked nervous under Zeb's glare but he calmly answered, "I'm Vladimir Tod."

When he shook Zeb's hand he must have noticed the mark on his wrist because he flipped his hand over and said, "Nice tattoo, dude. What's it mean?"

Everyone stopped and stared at the supposed tattoo on my cousins' inner wrist; a straight line, two dash marks and a slanted line all enclosed in parentheses. (|-/)

"It's the symbol of a gang I'm in." Zeb explained. It wasn't a total lie. Not that lying wasn't fun, it so is. But the gang Zeb talked about wasn't a human gang. It was Elysia, the Vampire World. And the symbol was Zeb's mark. His Name.

I hid my wrist realizing that Vlad could've easily spotted my mark as well. The mark on my wrist was a straight line, two slanted lines, and a dash mark enclosed in parentheses. (|/-\)

Zena fumbled into the kitchen with Zander and they each grabbed some coffee but neither one said much. They talked quietly with each other, Zeb and Morgan talked about some video game they played, Vlad looked a bit uncomfortable, and I silently sipped my coffee. After I downed the last sip I got up from the table and warned everyone else about our time crunch, "School starts in five," before running upstairs. I put on my gray leggings, purple skirt, and short sleeved purple top. I covered my pale skin in sunscreen and touched up my makeup and added a lot of eyeliner. I fixed my hair and threw in a purple bow then I slid on my black chuck taylors and returned down stairs. Zena was already dressed in monster sweat pants and her Invader Zim hoodie -and I doubted that she would actually go put on real clothes- and Morgan had on nice dark jeans and a button down red shirt. Vlad was sitting on the couch in the living room talking to Zeb about video games when I walked in.

"You ready?" I asked.

"Yea definitely." He got up and grabbed his book bag and mine off the floor and made his way to the front door. Zena said, low enough for only me to hear, that she would catch up with me after English class. With that Vlad and I stepped out into the cool October air. The wind blew slightly around us. The street was quiet, everyone was already in school and most of the adults were already off to work, the leaves rustled in the nearby trees. The only other noise was the sound of Vlad and I's feet hitting the ground.

"So tell me about yourself Vlad."

"What about me?"

"Your family, friends, life."

He seemed uncomfortable and a bit upset but he kept his cool and continued, "Family, well I live with my Aunt Nelly. I have for a while. My parents both died when I was five. She makes the best chocolate chip cookies ever and I'm an only child. What about your family?"

"Well as you know Zebediah is my cousin, and I'm living with him, my father is off in Stokerton but I couldn't stay with him. My mom died when I was young and I'm also an only child. Tell me about your friends"

"Well Henry McMillan is my best friend. Me and him have been friends for years. I tell him everything. But other than Henry I don't have many friends. People think I'm a freak."

"Oh I understand how that is, I'm only really accepted among Zena, Morgan, and Zeb." And the entire vampire world, I thought, but then decided that I should leave that out, "But Zena's my best friend. She's been there for me every since my mom died."

Then I realized that I had never said so much about my mom at one time before. I rarely ever talked about her. But since Vlad had lost his mother I knew he understood. I guess I looked as upset as I felt on the inside because he reached up and put his hand on my shoulder. I didn't shrug him off like I normally would've done to anyone else; I just reached up and grabbed his hand, gave it a little squeeze and dropped it. We walked up the front steps of the school and we snuck into Otis' English class. All eyes were on us since we walked in together but Vlad ignored them as did I. Vlad took his seat and I walked over to Otis' desk, slamming my hands down on his desk.

"Well Alyssa, aren't you just a ray of pure sunshine today." He said sarcastically.

"If I were I'd be sure to burn you first." I answered back.

He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest, "Remind me to put on extra sunscreen around you." He slid his black sunglasses down to the bridge of his nose.

"Your in a very optimistic mood today, Otis?" I noticed.

"You've always been quite an observant one, but never mind my mood Lyssa. Just tell me why you're up here."

"I need you to excuse Vladimir and I's tardiness this morning."

"I was already planning on excusing Vladimir's but yours I still have to consider."

"On what grounds could my tardiness be looked over?"

"Miss your meeting with your father tonight."

"Why on earth would I do that?"

"Because if your father knows that Vladimir is in the area then I fear that he will try and destroy the town looking for a boy who may or may not be a vampire, let alone the pravus."

I let his words sink in. my father was extremely determined to find Vlad. But truth is there may be nothing special about him but his eyes and were simply wasting our time.

"Okay," I decided, "I won't meet with him tonight. But this is the only meeting I will skip out on."

And with that Otis smiled.

I went home for lunch again but I was going to have to go to my afternoon classes eventually. When I got to my house Zeb had already cleaned up the "party" scene and everything was back in order.

"Alyssa?" he called from the kitchen.

"Yeah." I said slamming my book bag down by the door.

"You do know you have to stay at school until two forty-five, right?" he came into the living room with a plate piled high with turkey sandwiches and a bag of Fritos, without waiting for my answer he asked, "Wanna smash some zombies?"

I looked over at the playstation (that was Zeb's life), ran over, picked up a controller and started loading the game. Zeb put down his plate and bag of chips and went back into the kitchen. I heard the fridge door open and close and then he returned with two cans of coke. He tossed one in the air and with my vampire reflexes I caught it without looking.

"Nice." Zeb approved. I had been training to fight the past few weeks and all my senses were sharpening especially the vampire ones. My human senses still stayed hidden. Sometimes I even forgot that I was a mutt.

"So we'll continue training next week but for now allow me to train you in the art of zombie killing."

Zeb and I slashed zombies for the next three hours, snacking on turkey sandwiches and Fritos, until everyone else got home. Then Morgan took my place and Zena and I went out walking around until dark. Once the sun started to go down I told Ze I was feeling sick, which was believable because I could get sick just as another human could, and we went home. I laid in bed for the rest of the night hoping my father didn't come looking for me since I didn't show to meet him like I said I would. Eventually everything became quiet and I slipped off to sleep.

My sleep however did not last long, every time I closed my eyes visions of Vlad popped up in my head. No matter what I did I couldn't shake seeing him so I climbed out of bed and snuck out my bedroom window. I walked around Bathory for what seemed like hours but when I checked the time on my phone it had only been 20 minutes. I found myself at the school just wondering aimlessly. Once I got to the bell tower I felt myself drawn to it. Slowly and quietly I levitated until I was halfway to the top I stopped. I could hear a voice I recognized talking and I tried to make out the words.

"Mom she's beautiful just like you. She has black hair and dark brown eyes. Her skin is kind of pale but it suits her. I wouldn't know if she's smart like Dad because she skips class after lunch and she doesn't really do anything in English but she seems smart."

Was that Vlad? And was he talking about me? No way.

"But I doubt that she feels the same way about me. Alyssa could never like me."

Yep, definitely about me. I dropped to the ground so quickly I would've crashed into the ground if I hadn't been paying attention. I ran back home thinking to myself about how sweet it was what he said and about how what he said about English class made me want to laugh. But I had to keep those thoughts out of my mind. I wasn't here for a boyfriend. I was here for the hunt.

I'm just here for the game, I told myself.