VIII

That night, it rained. The sound of water splattering against his window and the roof was deafening to Dreyon's sensitive ears, but it was also comforting. The steadiness and boldness of the raindrops had always relaxed him somehow, and now, hearing the autumn downpour, the tension from dinner drained away from his body, and he relaxed against the back of his chair.

Then he glanced down at his English paper and groaned. There are just things that even the rain couldn't make better.

He picked up his phone, and typed a quick text to Sam, asking him why he hadn't gone to school the past few days.

Dreyon's human friend replied almost immediately.

Hey dude. Sorry, there was family stuff. I'll be absent for some time, but no worries. I should get back soon. Don't go check my house though. I won't be there.

There was a short pause, then another message popped up.

And there won't be anyone there welcoming you either.

πρωίωςτοβράδυ

With his English paper finished, Dreyon decided to study for the Biology quiz. He was already at school, eager to escape his hollow home and his father.

After the rain, the next morning was clean and bright, with a hint of a chill in the air. Winter would be coming soon.

He settled on a bench, pulling out his notes, and reading them over lazily, his mind not quite taking in all the words. Slightly annoyed, he slammed the notebook shut, just as he sensed a person approaching him. He sniffed discreetly, and a familiar smell filled his sense. He didn't need to turn around to know that it was Ellis, and that other Shadowlock vampire.

"Hey," he greeted, voice monotone and bored.

"Good morning," Ellis said neutrally. "So… I just wanted to ask about yesterday…"

"It's fine. No problem. I handled it." Dreyon slung his backpack over one shoulder and began walking away, not even bothering to spare a glance at the two girls.

Ellis watched his back until it disappeared inside the school building, then shook her head, sighing. Serena pursed her lips slightly, though she looked amused at the same time. "Boys are just really strange, you know?" the brown haired vampire said. Ellis couldn't help but agree.

Dreyon was a mystery she just couldn't solve.

πρωίωςτοβράδυ

The final bell rang, and the class erupted into frantic packing, everyone eager to escape the boring History lecture. Dreyon, however, didn't bother, sliding his books neatly into his backpack, then adjusted the straps pressing his shoulders. He was one of the last people to exit.

It was a Thursday, so Dreyon couldn't really understand why everyone was so in a rush to leave.

Placing the books he didn't need back into his locker, Dreyon left the school campus, but didn't head home directly. He wasn't in the mood, and wanted to stay out for as long as possible.

After some pondering, he began to stroll towards the park. The streets were familiar, and it remained familiar even after he left the path towards his house. With a jolt, he suddenly remembered that this was where Ellis's home should be, somewhere around here…

"What are you doing here?" a voice demanded.

Dreyon spun around, and -lo and behold- there stood Ellis with her friend.

He shrugged, deciding to answer her question. "I was heading towards the closest park."

Serena (yes, that's what her name is!) glanced back and forth between the two of them, then cleared her throat tentatively. "Well, I'll be heading up first." She smiled shyly as Ellis glared lightly at her. "Have fun!"

There was a moment of silence as Serena entered the building, her feet padding on the tile floors as she climbed the stairs towards her apartment room.

"Awesome friend," Dreyon commented, just to break the awkward silence.

"Shut it."

"Someone's in a bad mood."

"Thanks to you."

Dreyon rolled his eyes and shrugged his backpack up his shoulder. "Well, whatever. I'll be going to the park now. See you tomorrow. Don't forget the Biology lab."

The last bit was quite unnecessary, so Ellis ignored it. "Why are you going to the park?"

"Because I want to."

"Oh."

The dark haired boy smirked and turned. After taking a few steps, he called back over his shoulder, "Are you just going to stand there? If you keep quiet, I don't mind a little company, you know. I'm not that antisocial, if at all."

Ellis blinked, then hurried to follow him, not quite knowing why exactly she was doing what he wants her to do. "You sure? Every time I checked, you're alone, sulking in some dark corner…"

"I do not sulk." Dreyon glared at her, but it wasn't as intense as some of the glares before. He turned away. "And also, I do have friends."

"Let me guess, some other crazy, bloodthirsty vampire in your clan?"

Dreyon looked annoyed. "No. Sam is human. He was absent the past weeks, though. I haven't seen him for some time…" he trailed off.

"Did something happen?" Ellis asked, raising her eyebrows.

Her company shrugged. "No idea. I asked him, but it's just some family stuff. Sam's okay."

Ellis was mildly surprised. "You seem to put quite some faith in a human."

"Humans are useless unless for food," Dreyon announced, "but Sam is special. You'll understand when you meet him."

She nodded, smiling discreetly. It was nice to see that he wasn't completely heartless.

They have arrived at the park. Though it was noisy with the racket of children running around the swings and slides, it was also comforting with all the life in such a small place.

The two of them settled on a nearby bench. For a long time, there was just silence. However, it was a comfortable silence, the two of them merely enjoying each other's presence.

Then, Ellis spoke up. "When are you planning to go home?"

"When I feel like it," Dreyon answered emotionlessly, his eyes staring at a point in the horizon. The setting sun burned his face, and Ellis's skin prickled uncomfortably as well, but it melted his greenish brown eyes into such a beautiful shade of caramel and leaves that she didn't want to leave the annoying light. A breeze ruffled past, and Ellis caught a whiff of his familiar scent: metallic and salty, like blood, but beneath that was something comforting and strangely humane, like tea and autumn and fallen leaves. She leaned back, still gazing at him from the side of her vision.

Her sharp vampire vision picked up every single detail, the way he chewed the inside of his cheek as he pondered something she had no idea, the way his hair tangled easily in the cool wind. She saw how even though they should be relatively safe in a small neighborhood park, his muscles were still tense, and his nose twitched often, catching and analyzing every scent of their surroundings.

It was during one of those nosy precautions when he stiffened quite suddenly. His hand grabbed her wrist, and his voice was a hushed whisper as he asked frantically, "Do you have perfume or something? Something with a strong scent. Anything."

Ellis swallowed as the grip started to grow painful. "Um… Is hand sanitizer okay?"

Dreyon gestured for her to give it over, and she obliged, moving as quickly as she could, because whatever he had sensed, it's obviously not something he liked.

He took the bottle of hand sanitizer, and promptly squeezed one fourth of the bottle into his pale hand.

"What are you doing?!" Ellis yelped.

"Covering our scent," he answered easily, as if using up her precious bottle of hand sanitizer was completely unacceptable and she's not going to miss it or anything.

She continued to stare at him as he rubbed some of the sparkly gel onto his wrist, neck, and behind his ears, even smoothing some into his dark brown hair, making the strands stick up and sparkle in the dimming light. Then, he leaned forward, and began doing the same to Ellis.

She snatched her hand away. "Okay, seriously, what is happening?"

Dreyon grabbed her arm again. "There is a Nightwalker nearby. I could smell him. And he's not just any Nightwalker." He spread some of the cool perfume on her collarbone and around her neck. "He's my dad's assistant. If he finds us here, we're dead. Literally."

That shut her up real quick. Ellis dipped a finger into the hand sanitizer and rubbed it behind her ears.

"Won't he recognize us? Or you, at least?"

Dreyon shrugged as he rubbed his hands together with the last of the hand sanitizer he poured out. Another gust of wind blew Ellis's blonde hair around her face and into her eyes. She pushed it back impatiently, just as the scent hit her: the smell of pure blood and loyalty, and knew immediately that that was what Dreyon had scented.

"Dreyon," she breathed anxiously, daring to peek over her shoulder. She didn't catch anyone that had seemed to stand out, but again, vampires could usually fit in with humans just fine.

"He can't find us," the younger boy whispered. "You just go with the flow." And before Ellis could ask him what he was talking about, Dreyon tangled his hand- slick and sparkly from hand sanitizer- into her hair, and pulled her towards him. Their lips slammed together almost painfully.

For a moment, Ellis was stunned. Yes, she knew that this was part of an act, but still... Trying not to think, she leaned into the kiss, maybe a little too passionately, wrapping her arms around his neck as they began the roles of two love-struck teenagers with serious PDA problems.

"He's coming over," Dreyon murmured against her lips. "I think he's heading towards the forest."

"Cool," she whispered back. Her voice sounded tighter than usual. She let out a nervous giggle. "Keep up the act. I'm still young, I don't want to die yet."

"Young?" Dreyon's shoulders shook slightly with suppressed chuckled. "Yes, totally."

"Shut up."

Then they fell silent as a man in a pristine black suit passed them, shooting them a disdainful look. Ellis tensed, and so did Dreyon, and it was only after Ellis watched the assistant disappear in the forest did they relax and broke apart immediately.

"God," Ellis gasped. Her face felt like it was on fire. Her lips were smoldering… but not necessarily in the bad way. Quickly, she glanced away as some rather embarrassing images popped into her head.

Dreyon was the same, and he looked everywhere but at her, fiddling with his bangs a little bashfully. He cleared his throat uncertainly, and took a deep breath before standing up and saying, "Well, that was…"

"Intense," Ellis offered.

He bit his bottom lip, nodding absently. "Erm… so… I'll be heading home now. You should get back soon too. Um… Biology lab tomorrow. Right."

"Great," Ellis nodded, running a hand through her tangled hair and swallowing thickly. "Of course. Lab report due Tuesday."

"Yes. Thanks for the reminder. History essay." With that lame excuse, Dreyon practically flew out the park, leaving behind the strong scent of her peach-scented hand sanitizer.

After a long moment, Ellis stood as well, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and leaving the park.

Intense had been an extreme understatement.