Title: It's Not Always What it Seems
Author: Amy Perkins aka: Water Angel
Summery: Kestrel Arnold was nobody important at school, but when she tells
off the most popular girl. Things start
to go wrong.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I own the characters but
not the idea.
"Never again." Those were the words Kestrel Arnold said as
she walked home from school. The scene
back in the lunchroom at school kept flashing in her mind.
Kestrel had just sat down at her
usual table, with her friends, when they walked
in. They
were three of the most popular girls in the school. Melinda Rasmussen, Amber Summerfield and
Kylie Howell. They went to their usual
table with the all the typical people, the jocks, cheerleaders and all the most
popular people on the school.
"Look at them, they think
they're so hot just because they're popular." This came in an angry mutter from Trevor Martin.
"Just ignore them Trevor, they
like everybody looking at them. It
gives their egos a boost." Caroline
Stone said to Trevor.
Caroline was a pretty girl with hair
black as pitch, and with eyes the colour of the sky on a cloudy day, a sort of
blue-grey. She would have been with the
most popular group, except she came from the wrong side of the tracks and was
extremely shy.
"How do you know that they like
people looking at them Caroline?"
Trevor was still going on about the popular group.
Kestrel couldn't understand what Trevor's problem was. He was one of the most popular people in the
school, even though he didn't sit with the popular crowd. Of course it wasn't the fact that he was on
the varsity football team as a linebacker, and the fact that he was incredibly
muscular with blond hair and blue eyes, that made the girls want to throw
themselves at his feet.
"I don't know what you're
complaining about Trevor. You could sit
with them anytime you want. You just
choose to come over and sit with us," said Kestrel.
Kestrel was extremely pretty
herself, if she allowed herself to be, but she didn't. She always wore her hair the same way, and
wore very little make-up, even though she looked great without it. Her hair was the colour of honey and her
eyes the colour of amber, which had a tendency to get brighter when she was
very angry or happy about something.
But she didn't care about her looks, so she didn't bother with them.
"I sit here, because you're
here, honey." Trevor said
joking. Kestrel and Trevor were always
joking about being lovers. Everyone
knew it was a joke because they were cousins.
Kestrel's eyes lit up and she
followed on with the joke. "Oh,
really, well then, I guess that tonight is still on then?"
"Got that right, my place
8:00pm." Trevor said. They all laughed at the way they were
acting, and drew the attention of the popular group to their table.
"What are you guys laughing
about?" Kylie asked. Although Kylie hung around with the popular
group, she was very nice and she helped people whenever she could. Kylie was the way everyone would picture a
cheerleader, slim and very
beautiful with blonde hair and blue
eyes.
"What would they have to joke
about? They're pathetic morons," Melinda said spitefully. "Except for Trevor that is." She
added sweetly.
Melinda's words made Kestrel
seethe. For some reason Melinda always hated
Kestrel and took every opportunity to point out that Kestrel was nobody.
Before Kestrel could say anything
back to Melinda a new voice beat her to it.
"Now, now, Melinda, we wouldn't
want to show these people what you're really like, now would we?" Christopher
Rasmussen said.
Chris as everyone called him, was
one very good-looking boy. With black
hair and midnight blue eyes, he was the best looking boy in the school. He did have a fault though, Melinda was his
twin sister, and therefore she had the same features that he had, so that made
her the prettiest girl in the school.
Melinda, who usually shut up when
her brother told her to, didn't this time.
"Why brother? It's not like anyone cares about what we do to
them,"
If Kestrel thought that Melinda's
words couldn't get any worse, she was wrong.
"I mean, they're nobody's, who
cares what happens to them?"
Kestrel, who had stood through
Melinda's torment since they were children, couldn't stand it any more. Kestrel looked up at Melinda with eyes that
were now looking very frightening.
"Melinda," she said very
sweetly "why don't you go and play with your friends, but you'll have to
hurry and leave now because it takes a while to get to the dog pound, and you
have to be back before class starts."
Everyone gasped at Kestrel's words,
because she was the first one to stand up to Melinda and everyone was
completely shocked.
But no one was more shocked than
Kestrel herself; she couldn't believe what she had just said. Before anyone could say or do anything else,
she ran from the room.
* * * * *
"I can't believe I did
that." Kestrel said as she walked into the living room of the old
Victorian house. It was a very large
house, too big, Kestrel's mother said for only three people.
While Kestrel was sitting down
contemplating what she was going to do, the doorbell rang. She had no idea of who it could be, so she
didn't break her neck to answer it.
When she opened the door Trevor and
Caroline were standing there with a bunch of flowers and big grins on their
faces.
But before anyone could say
anything, the phone rang.
"Just go into the living room
while I get that." Kestrel said heading toward the phone.
"Hello," she said picking
up the receiver.
"Hi, Kestrel, it's Chris."
Kestrel almost dropped the
phone. She didn't say anything for a
while, because she was trying to figure if her heart was still beating. So Chris was the first to break the silence.
"Kestrel? Are you still
there?"
"Yeah." Kestrel's voice
came out as a croak.
"Good, because I thought you'd
left or something." He laughed.
"No, I'm still here. How did you get my phone number?"
"Huh, oh, I asked Trevor for
it."
Kestrel turned around and saw Trevor
and Caroline standing in the doorway grinning, she gave them the evil eye and
went back to her conversation with Chris.
"Oh, so Trevor gave it to you,
did he?"
"Yeah, why? Does that bother
you?" he sounded a little worried.
"No, it doesn't bother me. I just wondered why you would want to call
me."
"Well, I wanted to thankyou,"
"Thank me? What for?"
Kestrel asked puzzled.
"For putting my sister in her
place. No one has ever done that before, and I think that everybody thanks you
for it. Well anyway, enough about my
sister. I'm having a get together
tonight, and you and your friends are invited.
So do you want to come?"
"I'm not sure," Kestrel
sounded uncertain.
"Why not?" Chris said
sounding disappointed.
"I don't really have anything
to wear."
Chris laughed. "Don't worry, just come casual,
everyone else will be."
"Okay, I'll just see if the
others want to go." She put the phone down and went
into the living room.
Trevor and Caroline had very pleased
looks on their faces.
"So, what did you guys talk
about?" Trevor asked innocently.
"Don't even ask, because you
already know. Listen, I can ball you
out later for this, but do you want to go to Kit's party?" Kestrel said.
"Yeah, sure we already
discussed it. We're going." Trevor
said happily.
"Okay good." Kestrel said,
already heading back to the phone.
"Are you there?"
"Yeah, had nowhere else to be
at the time." Chris said.
Kestrel laughed. "Okay, good. Yes we'll go tonight."
Chris now sounded extremely
happy. "Good, I new you had good
sense. Okay, everyone's going to get
here around seven, so anytime around then will be fine. Do you know where I live, or do you need
directions?"
"No, it's okay I'll find
it. See you around seven."
"Great, see you then. Bye."
"Bye Chris."
Kestrel put down the receiver, and
walked back into the living room.
"Okay, your lucky I'm in a good
mood, otherwise, you'd be in big trouble mister." Kestrel said to Trevor.
Trevor was the picture of innocence
and only said; "So when do we go."
The girls just laughed at him.
* * * * *
Caroline was over at Kestrel's to
get ready to go to Chris', and all they did was talk about it.
Kestrel was standing in front of her
wardrobe, looking at its contents will dismay, because she thought that she had
nothing to wear.
"I don't have anything to wear
Caroline," Kestrel wined "look at you, if I go in there I'll get
laughed out, but you'll be able to stay."
Caroline just laughed. "I don't look that good." She said
modestly.
That was an understatement, Caroline
looked great in tight black pants and a midriff top the same blue-grey of her
eyes.
"What about this?"
Caroline asked as she pulled out a tight blue denim dress that still had the
tags on.
"Oh, I don't know, I doesn't
really look good on me. It was
something my cousin, Jessica gave for my birthday."
"How would you know if you
don't look good in it or not? You've
never even tried it on! Now I demand
you go put this on." Caroline said
this with such authority in her voice that Kestrel had to obey.
When Kestrel stepped out of the
bathroom Caroline was speechless, because even she hadn't know how great of a
body Kestrel really had. The tight
dress clung to all of Kestrel's curves.
"You look great! Now if you'll just let me do your make-up
and hair you'll look even better.
Caroline was sounding very excited.
"I don't know, Caroline,"
when Kestrel saw Caroline face drop she groaned.
"Okay, just don't over do
it."
Half an hour later the girls were
sitting in the living room waiting for Trevor.
At five to seven Trevor pulled his
car into the driveway and honked the horn.
Kestrel laughed. "His Majesty calls and we must go. Bye, Mom.
Bye, Dad." Kestrel yelled
to the other end of the house.
"Bye honey," the Arnold's
called back.
When Trevor saw the girls he let out
a low whistle. "You girls look
great. Now let's go!" with that he
tore of down the street.
* * * * *
When they arrived at the house
Kestrel was very aware of how tight the dress was. But when they knocked on the door and Kit answered, the look he
gave was enough to settle her fears of how she looked.
Chris gave the same low whistle that
Trevor had. "Wow, you look great
Kestrel, it's a shame to waste it all here.
And you Caroline, you're also looking great." He shook Trevor's hand and led them into the
house.
They had just stepped into the house
when Kestrel saw Melinda. She looked
great in a tight black mini skirt and blue singlet top. She gave Kestrel a look that would melt ice.
"Kestrel hi, you
look…great." Melinda's words came
out sweet as honey, but the way she looked Kestrel up and down suggested
otherwise.
"Thanks, you look great
to." Kestrel gave Melinda the same
look she had given her.
Melinda walked off in a huff because
she didn't get her own way.
Chris laughed. "Don't mind Melinda, she's been in a
bad mood since this afternoon."
Trevor laughed to. "Well, the queen doesn't always get her
own way."
Kestrel just stared in the direction
that Melinda had taken off to.
Wondering if what she did was wrong because she new she had made an
enemy for life.
Chris saw the direction Kestrel was
looking at and laughed. "Don't
worry Kestrel, my sister is all talk."
He put his arm around her waist and led her to the living room where
everyone else seemed to be.
"Everyone! You all know Kestrel don't you?" To Kestrel's surprise they all did know who
she was.
Kestrel was having the time of her
life. She laughed with everyone and
they laughed with her. She was sitting
next to Chris, and he was being very nice and very flirty.
Everyone started clearing out at
about twelve o'clock, but Trevor and Caroline, who were looking very cosy
together, Kestrel and a few others, were still there and were planning on
staying longer.
Kestrel had got up to go to the
bathroom when Melinda arrived from wherever she had been. By the look she gave Kestrel, she was still
mad at her. Kestrel was having too much
of a good time to let Melinda bother her.
Kestrel was just finishing in the
bathroom, washing her hands, when someone came in after her. She turned around to see Melinda.
Kestrel was tired of the looks that
Melinda would give her, but decided to do nothing, so she just tried to get
past Melinda and get out. But Melinda
blocked her path.
Kestrel looked at her confused. "Could you please move?" She asked and moved forward to leave.
Melinda grabbed Kestrel's arm with
more strength that she should have.
"Listen here, you stay away
from my brother okay?" Melinda
said viciously.
Kestrel tried to shake off Melinda's
grip, but she couldn't. So she tried a
different
tactic. "Why should I? I like him and he obviously likes me, so
what's the problem?" she asked.
Melinda hissed at her, "The problem is, you're wrong him and
I'm warning you stay away from him!"
Kestrel could see that Melinda was
trying to scare her. "No!"
she said forcefully.
Melinda was shocked that anyone
would treat her that way. Her, Melinda Rasmussen. Melinda did something that her and her kind
agreed that they would never do. She
grabbed Kestrel's arm and spun her around, and let her see what she was really
like.
Kestrel's eyes widened at what she
saw. Melinda's eyes had turned black,
but that wasn't all, her teeth! Her canine's had grown to needle points.
Melinda grabbed Kestrel's shoulders
and snarled, "This is what happens when people oppose me." And with that, she sunk her teeth into
Kestrel's neck.
Kestrel was in shock as well as
pain, her throat felt as if it where on fire and she could hear Melinda
drinking her blood. Maybe it was
hearing that, that gave Kestrel the strength to push Melinda away.
After Melinda had stumbled away from
her, Kestrel ran from the bathroom, down to the living room where everyone was.
Since Chris was the only one facing
the doorway, he saw her first. When he
saw her face was deadly pale and the blood on her neck, he knew what had
happened to her.
"Kestrel!" he yelled and
ran towards her.
Kestrel would have collapsed at that
moment if Chris had not caught her.
By now, the others saw her as well,
and ran over to her. Chris was checking
her neck as calmly as he could.
"Tell us what
happened." He asked softly.
After Kestrel told them what
happened they were all shocked, except for Chris. He was furious at his sister.
Trevor was confused. "So, Kestrel, what you're trying to
tell us is, that Melinda is a vampire?
I don't believe that. I mean, we
see her at school and during the day, in the sunlight, and she doesn't melt or
whatever, so how are we supposed to believe you?"
"It's true." Chris said quietly. "Melinda's a vampire."
Before he could say anything else,
there was a short laugh from upstairs.
They all looked up the staircase to see Melinda standing there.
"Very nice brother, turning
against your own sister, I think I should feel insulted."
"Melinda, get down here. You have no excuse for what you did to Kestrel!" Chris said angrily.
"Oh, but I did you see? Because you had grown attracted to her, and
I didn't want to loose you to some human." She said the word human as if
it were some kind of disease.
"While we're on the subject of
vampires though, why don't we discuss you? And the fact that you're a vampire
to."
The others looked at Chris
frightened. Especially Kestrel whom he
was holding.
"There's a difference between
you and me Melinda. I don't go around
killing everything that moves, I am in control, you're out of control!"
"No I'm not! I'm just having
fun." She said coming down the
stairs.
Chris stood up and went to stand in
front of Kestrel.
Melinda looked at the obvious way
that Kit was protecting Kestrel, and she seethed inwardly.
"Protecting what you have come
to think of as yours, brother?" she asked viciously.
Chris didn't say anything, and that
seemed to make Melinda even angrier.
Before anyone could stop her, she jumped behind Chris and grabbed
Kestrel. She put Kestrel in front of
her, like a shield.
This seemed to bother Chris
immensely, "Give Kestrel to me, Melinda." He said in a quiet but
deadly voice.
His voice seemed to scare
Melinda. "No! You'll hurt me if I do." She said sounding like a child.
"Give her to me Melinda."
he said more forcefully.
"No!" Melinda shouted and sunk her teeth into
Kestrel's neck once more.
That seemed to be something that
Chris was waiting for. He jumped behind
Melinda and pulled her teeth from Kestrel's neck. With that done he hit Melinda over the head with his fists,
Melinda hit the floor unconscious.
Before she it he ground, Chris was at Kestrels side, and seemed greatly
upset, for anyone could tell by Kestrel's colour that she was dying. It seemed to upset Chris the most.
"Don't die Kestrel, don't
die." He kept repeating.
Trevor was getting hysterical. "She can't die, because Melinda didn't
get enough blood right?"
No one answered him, because they
all knew that even though Melinda didn't get enough blood then, she had taken a
lot more before.
Chris' eyes suddenly lit up and he
looked around at the others.
"Wait, she won't die, I know
she won't!" he sounded very excited.
Caroline went over and put a hand on
Kit's shoulder "There's nothing you can do Chris, she's dying."
"No, she won't die, not really,
not if I give her some of my blood."
he said.
The other looked at him as if he
were insane.
"Don't you see? I'll turn her into a vampire, and she'll
live." he was getting more excited by the minute.
Trevor was the first to comment on
what Chris had just said. "Are you
telling me that you want to turn my cousin into a vampire?" Instead of
being happy about it, it seemed to make him angry. "You want to turn her into a bloodthirsty monster!"
"No, not all of us are
monsters. Melinda was like that because
no one figured out what she was really doing.
Look," he said savagely, "do you want her to live or
not?"
Trevor kept looking at him a while,
then he looked at Kestrel, and the look in his eyes changed from anger to
understanding. He looked back at Kit
and said, "Help my cousin."
Chris nodded and looked at
Kestrel. "Kestrel, open your eyes
honey, you have to open your eyes."
When she did, he smiled. "I'm
going to help you, okay? Then you're
going to be better again."
Kestrel saw him put his wrist to his
mouth and make a jerking motion with his head, and then he quickly put it to
her mouth. She knew without looking
that he was giving her his blood. She
tried to fight it, but the blood kept coming, and it tasted good, so she
swallowed.
When Chris saw swallow he smiled and
said, "That's right, keep drinking."
She did, she kept drinking until she
saw blackness, and it swallowed her.
* * * * *
It was only a week after Kestrel's
encounter with Melinda. Kit, Trevor, Caroline
and Kestrel were in Chris' living room talking about that fateful day.
"So, Melinda's been taken away
somewhere, where she will get better?"
Caroline asked Chris.
Chris was sitting next to Kestrel on
the couch, with his arm around her, like he was never going to let her go. "Yes, my parents put her somewhere,
where she won't hurt herself or others."
Kestrel sighed and leaned her head
on Kit's shoulder. She had made the
change from human to vampire, with no problems, and she loved it. All her senses were intensified and she was
beginning to love the night more than the day.
Trevor looked at Kestrel. "So you're happy with the decision that
was made without you?" he asked tentatively.
"Of course I am. Even if I weren't I would be happy that you
wanted me to live." Kestrel said.
"Well, you know the only reason
I wanted you to live, was because we're good in bed together." Trevor started the joke they all loved.
"Really, that's good because I
wouldn't want to die not knowing that.
Hey, while we're on the topic why don't we go for it right
now?"
They both started to get up when
Chris grabbed Kestrel, and pulled her back into her seat. "Don't even think about touching my
girl Martin." Chris said to Trevor
in a deadly voice.
Everyone laughter and Kestrel hugged
Chris. "Don't worry, Rasmussen,
we're only joking."
"Good, because don't ever think
I'm going to let you go." Kit said
holding her tighter.
Kestrel laughed. "Jeez, the guy gives me some blood, and
he thinks that he owns me." She
would have continued, but Chris started tickling and he wouldn't stop.
"I'm not stopping until you tell me that you love me."
"Alright! I love you!" she
gasped out the words barely able to say them.
They seemed to please him because he
stopped tickling her and pulled her into his arms. "I love you too."
The words made her heart soar.
THE END