Vampire Kisses fanfiction
PLASTIC PROMISES
Claude Sterling/OC: Madeline Torrent

Chapter 36.

Claude's fist punched through a stone statue in the graveyard in rage. His eyes had flashed a bloody red and his fangs were fully extended, his teeth bared. He hadn't yet changed into his clothes, still standing around in naught but his boxers, but he didn't care. Maddie was gone.

He didn't know who to hate more; her or himself. He hated that even though she'd said she loved him, she wouldn't let him turn her. It was a better way of consummating their love instead of just having sex, which was what he was sure she thought would only happen. Wrong. If she truly loved him, she would have let him bite her.

Yet he hated himself for scaring her off. He shouldn't have rushed into the biting, but the smell of her blood was so overwhelming, and imagining drinking it had turned him into the obsessive douche.

He gripped the pedestal of the statue, ducking his head and breathing heavily. He had to get her back. She probably didn't want to see him at the moment, but he had to go looking for her. Hopefully Alexander wouldn't be getting his ass into any of Claude's business.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Maddie sat in the passenger seat of Alexander's black Mercedes-Benz. He drove her back to her apartment as quickly as he could, and, when they arrived, Alexander assured her that he would be standing guard, protecting her and her family for her. Smiling widely, she thanked him again with a hug and hopped out of the car, running quickly barefoot up the iron stairs in Kat's gothic clothing. She unlocked the door, slowly opened it, and tiptoed inside.

The complex was dark and she slithered her way through the family room to the hallway, peeking into her mother's room. She was fast asleep, still in her diner uniform. She must have worked far later than expected. Hopefully her mother hadn't checked on Melinda and Maddie's room to see if both of them were asleep.

Melinda was curled up in her bed, Halo pressing her body against Melinda's face. Maddie quickly undressed out of Kat's clothing, throwing them under her bed so no one could find them, and put on her pajamas. She climbed in bed, but not before looking out her window. The Mercedes was gone, but in the distance she could make out a fluttering object. When it appeared in the moonlight, she saw the form of a vampire bat. Her heart beat louder in her ears, unsure whether it was Claude or Alexander, but as it flew to her window, it nodded and hung itself on a branch outside it, and Maddie knew it was her friendly creature of the night.

Maddie felt as if she'd gotten zero amount of sleep last night. She'd been shaken awake by Melinda, who was already dressed for school. Her lips were pursed and her eyebrows narrowed.

"Jeez, finally," Melinda scowled. "I don't know what's with you guys. Mom's not waking up either."

Maddie sat up and rubbed her eyes, eyeliner smearing onto the back of her hand.

"What do you mean?"

"She's totally knocked out. She came home super late last night, like, around twelve. The diner was especially busy for some reason," Melinda explained. "Maybe you could get her out of bed. If she saw you with your face like that, I'm sure she'd jump with fright. It'd get her heart racing." Melinda grinned and Maddie rolled her eyes.

"Oh shut up. Go eat your breakfast," Maddie ordered as she threw her sheets off of her. Melinda sighed and reached for Halo, who was still snoozing on her bed. She left the room and Maddie turned towards the window. The tree branch was empty, but Maddie figured Alexander had left to find a darker setting to hide himself from the sun.

She yawned widely and stretched. Yesterday had been a crazy memory. As she thought about what Claude did (or was about to do) to her made her heart sink lower and lower to her gut. She couldn't believe he'd lied to her like that, although, according to Alexander, this probably shouldn't have been a surprise. He'd said Claude was dangerous and unpredictable, and judging from the first night they'd met, this shouldn't have been news to her. Yet she insisted on giving him another chance.

"I am such an idiot," she whispered to herself. She blamed herself for getting her heart broken. She didn't have to give Claude that second chance. She could have ran after someone like Travis, because, apparently, he was interested in her too.

She knew one thing: she wasn't going to chase after boys for a long time, let alone give them second chances.

To refrain from crying about last night, she went into the sole bathroom of the apartment and washed her face. Melinda had been right; her face looked quite frightening. It was much worse than last night since she'd slept with her running make-up. She undressed and jumped in the shower to quickly wash up, and then walked back to her room to get ready for school.

She pulled out a pair of too tight skinny jeans that were torn in the knees and were stretching inside the thighs, her second-hand pink Hollister tee, and the ballet flats that she'd put in her bag from last night. She brushed her hair, letting it air-dry, and parted it down the middle, bringing the ends over her shoulders. She fixed her side-swept bangs before putting on her eyeliner and mascara, then left to wake her mother.

Melinda hadn't been exaggerating when she said her mother was knocked out. Maddie was practically screaming in her face when Melinda came in and suggested to pour water on her face. Maddie rolled her eyes at the idea, but agreed anyway. As Melinda dripped a couple of water droplets from her water bottle on to the side of her mother's face, her dark sapphire orbs fluttered open.

"Dang Mom," Maddie sighed. "You were really beginning to scare us."

"We thought you might have died or something," Melinda added, and Maddie scowled at her.

"What time is it?" Lucy Torrent asked groggily.

"Almost seven. We're really going to be late for school," Melinda mentioned.

"And you're definitely late for your shift," Maddie added. Their mother groaned and placed a hand over her forehead.

"I'm really not feeling good enough to go to work," she moaned, rolling on her back. "Maddie, do you think you can take the car and take Mellie to school?"

"But I don't even have my license!" Maddie exclaimed.

"It's okay, I trust you." A faint smile spread on her pale lips.

Her mother really didn't look good, Maddie realized. She'd only driven a couple of times, but with Uncle Lucian, since her mother was too busy at the diner. It wasn't as hard as she'd thought it would be, but then again, she'd never driven her mother's little sedan before, only Uncle Lucian's huge rusty van.

Sighing heavily, Maddie nodded. "Well, okay," she said.

"But what about work, Mom? You won't get paid today. What will we do?"

"We'll be fine," their mother assured. "If we really fall behind, we can ask Uncle Lucian for a little cash, just to cover what we can't. We'll pay him back later."

Maddie and Melinda nodded in unison and kissed their mother goodbye on the cheek. Melinda walked out of the room, grabbing her backpack and books, but Maddie lingered behind, watching her mother from the doorway.

"You've been working too hard," Maddie murmured. Lucy glanced at her before looking away.

"You know we need the money," she said.

"Uncle Lucian will understand. We can borrow some from him. You're not well. You've overworked yourself. You need a couple days off."

"You know I can't do that, Maddie," her mother said.

"You're going to have to, though. I can fill in for you during the evenings, if you'd like," she offered.

"Of course not! You have to worry about school. Junior year is supposed to be the most stressful. I don't want you to worry about working as well."

"Well, just think about taking a short vacation. You really need it, Mom," Maddie said. Lucy sighed heavily.

"I know," she whispered. Afterwards, Maddie left her room, returning to hers to grab her tote. She walked out to the kitchen, grabbed a s'mores Pop-Tart, and took the keys from the kitchen counter.

"You sure you can do this?" Melinda asked skeptically.

"Have a little faith, won't you?" Maddie snapped. Melinda rolled her eyes.

"Goodbye, Halo. I may never see you again, on account of my sister is driving illegally and may kill us as we know it," Melinda teased. The kitten stared at her briefly before returning to her breakfast.

"Oh shut up," Maddie groaned as she pushed through the door, leading her younger sister to the car out on the street.