I'd sat in the car for a while, staring at the steering wheel. I knew how to drive a car. A real one that was, with a gear box in the middle and without various leavers and pulleys sticking out from beyond the wheel. I slammed my palm down on the wheel and sighed. I struggled against the seatbelt to get my phone from my bag. I went down my contact list but then pressed the home button and started from the top again.
Archie.
Before I could make the call my phone began to vibrate and blare out an old C C Adcock tune. It startled me but I answered it all the same. I tried my hardest to keep the glumness out of my voice. No need to drag anyone else into my horrifically freaky predicament.
"Mornin' Babe." Devon's cheeriness grated.
"Hi."
"About last night..."
Oooh, an apology. How refreshing.
"Just to let me know...well you know. You don't get to chose who your family are. I don't think you're a freak too." I imagined if anyone had been in the vicinity they would have seen my jaw drop like off of some kids cartoon. I searched for words. "So I wondered if you wanted to do anything today?" Excuses...excuses...I NEED AN EXCUSE.
"Well, actually, my aunts had to go away on business so I have to sort of house sit." I unclipped the seatbelt. "But you know, some other ti..."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously what?" I sighed, getting out of the car.
"She's gone out of town?" Grabbing my bag off of the front seat I slammed the car door shut.
"Yes Devon. She's gone to do some job or something."
"Awesome. I'll come and pick you up in like ten minutes."
"What?"
"Are you letting people know or shall I? We'll sort it when I get there. Laters Babe."
"Sorry, what?!" But he'd already hung up. God, had been painful. And mildly confusing. Although, as I thought about it the more I understood what he had been planning. An awesome house party. With keggers. I didn't know what keggers were exactly but I'm pretty sure they involved beer. And I don't care for beer. Now he's probably half way though inviting all his stupid bloody friends. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I considered kicking the car but although it would have made for an epic dramatic effect it may also have broken my foot. I leant back against the car and chewed my lip. Why couldn't I just put my foot down and tell him and his stupid party to just bugger off. I guess I ts always easier when you have someone on my side. Bloody vampires.
I could hear the phone ringing from inside the house. I pulled myself from my depressed stupor and rummaged for my keys. I had my head stuck in my oversized bag searching for them when I heard a car pull up beside me.
"Morning Mary Poppins." Perfect.
"Just looking for my keys." I mumbled, turning to face him. He was leant against a blue 4 x 4 in shorts, polo shirt and sunnies perched on his perfectly gelled hair. Straight out of some teen film fresh from Hollywood. Fun.
"Well you chariot awaits." He opened the passenger side door for me. I guess the machine would just have to answer the call.
"New car?"
"I couldn't stand to think of those dead guys in it." I looked over, watching him staring at the road ahead.
"Yeh. Dead guys suck."
O O ----- O O
The cavernous qualities of the old hotel meant that the slightest noise bounced off every wall and echoed through the corridors. The electronic pulses of the Beastie Boys' 'Sabotage' pushed further out into the crashing waves outside. Archie's eyes whipped open. He crashed around the dark room searching for his phone. He could hear his new 'brothers' yelling from beyond the walls. His hands clawed at the electronic devise.
"Yes?" He couldn't keep the animalistic growl from his voice.
"Archibald? I called your aunt's house and no one answered. Where are you and your sister? I..."
"Mum?"
O O ----- O O
My reasoning skills had left something to be desired. I sat in the front of Devon's shiny new car as he went to go pick up one of his friends, and his speaker system. I felt weird. I didn't feel like I knew Devon well enough to kick off with him and make me listen to me which. Which I knew completely contradicted me letting him throw a party at my house. And I hated it. I fiddled with the radio. I hoped I'd break something just out of spite.
"Hey Marsha." A guy climbed into the back as Devon opened the front door.
"Becky." Devon corrected him. Marsha. Nice.
"You know I don't think this is such a good idea. Can we not..."
"Are you kidding Babe? Free house...house party. It makes sense." He turned the ignition. "Plus everyone's invited now."
"Come on chicka, it'll be fun." The guy in the back laughed and the satisfying noise of a can being opened followed. But I couldn't enjoy it as I stared in disbelief at Devon. What a pig.
O O ----- O O
Music blared throughout the house. As did raised voices and laughter. We at least they were having fun. I'd tried to remove and hide all the breakables I could find, and locked away everything else. God bless Clarissa and her crazy shutters, I hoped they would keep the house standing. At the last count there about 20 kids here that I'd never met in my life and then 10 or so more that I knew very little. I stood by the door way of the living room watching people dance around the house. The floor was covered in dirt walked in from the garden, and more than one person had spilt drink and left it. A sticky mixture of beer and vodka. I sighed and staggered as two paralytic teenagers barged passed me into the hall way. I glared after them.
"Lighten up Babe. Have a drink." Devon grabbed my head and began pouring a can of lite American beer into my mouth. I pushed out at him, slamming his face with the heel of my palm.
"Don't call me Babe. Dick." I stormed away. I'd had enough. Maybe I had made the wrong decision this morning and that the alternative really wasn't as bad as I'd thought. I pushed passed bodies to get to the stairs, grabbing an unopened bottle of vodka that someone had balanced precariously on the end of the banister rail. The house was being turned into a flammable mess. At the top of the stairs were a couple in a state of undress trying to open the door to my room.
"Go HOME." I yelled at them, shoving my way passed them to get to my door, slamming it shut behind me. I unscrewed the lid to the bottle I'd collected earlier and took a mouthful. I hadn't drunk neat vodka in a while and it burnt down my throat. My throat. It was still very delicate from the other night. I pressed two fingers against my left temple and sat down on the side of my bed.
"Fun party Rebekah."
O O ----- O O
Slipping away quietly was apparently not the done thing in the vampire household.
He'd stood in the dark after the phone call had ended. Becks hadn't answered her phone to their Mum and nor the dozen half times he'd tried her afterwards. She didn't know anything. And there wasn't anything he could do to. The sun wouldn't set for another twelve hours. He went out into the hotel hobby and spent most of the day pacing round the room in pitch darkness. If his hear t was still beating it might have pounded right out of his chest by now. As the sun began to dip below the Californian waves outside, Archie took another look round the deserted room. He quickly began to climb up to the exit above. There was suddenly a hand around his ankle and he was brought rapidly to the ground and then swung. His body was slammed against the rough side of the cave. Dwayne grinned at him, his face millimetres away from his own. Behind him the rest of the boys stood. Archie had been pressed painfully against the wall until the details of where he was going were made public. Archie ran a hand over the stubbly fuzz on the top of his head as he saw the smirk grow on David's face as he had explained what was going on. Family strife. Another nail in the coffin in torturing the little girl.
O O ----- O O
David had gone on ahead, double standards much, as the guys rode towards Archie's Aunt's house. Archie was hoping he'd get there before him bit doubted he would.
David was nowhere to be seen as Clarissa's house came into view. The music could be heard from the road and young people were scattered about, drunk out of their little minds. Unprotected. Not a smart idea in Santa Carla. Neither was inviting perfect strangers to parties. But as the inebriated guy half way up the drive yelled out a slurred welcome to the boys who were they to turn down such an offer. Free roam. They rolled their bikes up the drive, parking behind a black Mercedes Ocean Drive. Dismounting, Dwayne chuckled at Archie.
"I think your Mommy beat you."
O O ----- O O
The bottle slipped from my hand as I jumped at the voice. Its contents sunk into the thick carpet below.
"Fuck." I stood quickly and turned to face him. David was sat on the window sill. His boot clad feet were resting on the cushions of the box seat, his elbows resting on his thighs and he smirked at me from across the room.
"Drinking again? Tut tut."
"What do you want David?" He didn't answer me, just jumped down gracefully and looked around my room. "I found something of yours." I watched him prowl around. I saw how his face moved at my comment and the glint in his eye. "Well as fun as this has been there's a part going on downstairs that I need to go back to..." I backed towards the door.
"Is that so?"
"Yes." I bit out. I couldn't keep the memory from the previous party coming to mind. He was stood in front of me now, the door directly behind me. I grasped the door knob. I knew I probably wouldn't get out in time, but I could try. He leant into me. It was weird to be this close to someone and not feel them breathing. I couldn't look him in the eye. It wasn't an awkward thing, it just didn't feel right. "David..." He moved even closer. His whole presence was threatening. I felt dizzy with an overwhelming need to both cry and...something else. His face lowered to mine and I tilted my head. Ice cold fingers clasped my neck. I shut my eyes and waited. I could feel the deathly chill of his skin as it neared mine.
O O ----- O O
"Mother. Chesington. Isabella. Hi." Archie did his best to put himself between his guardians and the chaos erupting in the house behind him. However, he knew deep down even vampire strength wasn't going to stop the chaos from erupting in front of him. But he was wrong.
"A house party?" His mother smiled.
"Why didn't you say, we would have brought something." His stepfather wrapped an arm round his mother's waist, slapped him on the back and moved passed him towards the house. Isabella followed in her parents footsteps, but not before turning a little further up the drive and winking at the boys stood behind him.
"I like em easy." Dwayne drawled out.
"NO." Archie's voiced boomed round the outside of the house. "You can't go in there." He yelled after the disappearing figures of the adults. He turned back to the boys. "They can't go in there." Ignoring his panic Dwayne, Marco and Paul walked past Archie up the drive was eyeing up preety girls for breakfast. "YOU CAN'T GO IN THERE." He yelled at them.
"Looks like your wrong." Marco yelled back.
Bugger. Archie followed them into the house.
O O ----- O O
Inside was packed and noisy and so hot. Archie had lost the boys in the masses moving from room to room and back outside. He pushed his way around. His mum and Chesington were stood in the kitchen pouring wine from one of the many bottles left on the work surface. They weren't going to leave.
His sister, he needed to find Becks.
He moved through the bodies, their blood rushing loudly in his ears. A girl pushed herself against him, moving her warm lips up to his ear, whispering. He turned her and pushed her back against the wall. He heard her gasp and moan as he sank his razor teeth into the searing flesh at the side of her neck. His fingers pushed under her skirt as he took his fill. She may as well get something from this, he wasn't a totally heartless monster. He wasn't going to kill her, just take enough. They hadn't eaten before they had left and he needed strength to cope with this hell. Had this been a year early, back home with his friend, in someone else's house it would have been amazing. As it was he was still too new to deal with this many bodies around. Archie let the girl stagger away, a glazed look in her eye. He had to keep control. He went back into the living room. He had to have missed her somewhere. He spotted Marco sat in the chair by the window, with some blonde perched on his lap. Nodding in acknowledgement he scanned the room. Devon was gyrating with some other girl Archie recognised from the boardwalk. He went over to him.
"Have you seen Becks?" He had to shout so that the human could hear him over the pounding music. Devon glared at him.
"Fuck off Freak." His full attention went back to the girl in front of him. Archie felt his face changing. He felt like his skin was being burnt. Every nerve ending sparked. He swung an arm out. It hit Devon squarely in the chest sending him flying back into the locked bookcases behind him.
"Where. Is. My. Sister?" Archie growled out.