ME: thanx. I'm still glad that you like it! I always will be glad that you
like it. This chapter is from Van's POV only, except for at the end. I plan
to give you a slight introduction to the next character, Lonna. As far
Van's "shock the hell out of everyone on his 1st day of school," I still do
know someone like that... but anyway, I can't reveal their name or they'd
kill me. So here's chapter 4.
PS: Van gets new abilities in this ch. too.
Ch. 4: Vampirism
Van
It's late. About 11:35. We're at the warehouse. And we split up. I'm with Goth-girl, (who by the way looks really good in latex.), and Spyke-man. I still don't know what we're looking for, so I'm just following Evan and Rogue around.
CLANK!
What the hell was that? I'm freaking out; this place is spooky to the power of ten! I felt a gust of wind and-
"Hey there vampire-boy," I heard an annoyingly cocky voice call.
"Pietro!" Evan's shout echoed through the building, making it even creepier than before. He stuck out his spikes and shot them.
Hey, that guy's fast. He was like, ten feet away from me, and now he's leaning his elbow on my shoulder like we're good friends. Which we're not! "Hey man," I pushed him. "Get offa me!" But he was too fast, so I ended up just pushing air, and I fell over.
HOW EMBARASSING!!!
He laughed an annoying little laugh and I growled. I picked myself up and threw myself at him!
Nope. I fell on my face again. I need a new routine. No, I need a gun. Yeah, a gun...
"Can't catch me!" he chanted. "You can't catch me! I'm too fast."
Like hell he is. And it sucks too. I pulled my face out of the ground, but he wasn't there. Neither was Rogue, or Evan. Man, they ran off in hot pursuit and I got to eat dirt. Shit. Life sucks.
I wandered off aimlessly, looking for my "partners" and almost smacked into-
"Hey Van, I see you're wearing pants now."
Jaeger.
"Shall we dance?" I asked, smiling evilly. I'm gonna kick. Her. Ass.
"Bring it," she said. She drew back her leg, and before I could react, kicked me in the shin. Hard!
I clutched my leg in pain. Holy matrimony, she kicks like hell! OW! I thought vampires were impervious to this kind of crap.
"Hey," she said. "I thought vampires were immune to pain. Cool."
NOT FAIR!!! But it is kinda' funny that she didn't know either.
I hopped around on one leg, trying to ease the pain, and she just turned around and walked off. Gr. She thinks she's sooooo good. All she does is kick really hard. That has nothing to do with skill. Nothing!
BAMF!
"Vhat happened to you?" Kurt asked.
"Your girlfriend kicked me!"
He looked confused. "Jaeger?" he asked. "She's not mein girlfriend."
"She's a girl and she's your friend, thus being your girlfriend. Anyhow, she kicked me."
He smiled. "I'm glad you two get along alright."
"Yeah, right." I said, rolling my eyes. "She adores me."
He teleported me back to the others, who were still duking it out with the Brotherhood. I watched for a while, but I noticed that Jaeger was nowhere to be seen. Chills went up my spine. She could be anywhere, waiting for me. Waiting to kick my ass.
No, no. I'm being paranoid.
The battle went good. I never saw Jaeger for the rest of the night, and the X-men creamed the Brotherhood. Life is sweet. Despite all the pain in my shin.
~*~
Van
Today is a cold day like any other cold day in winter. I'm wearing pants now, it's lunch period, and I'm stuffing my fingers in my mouth trying not to laugh. Why? Kurt and Jaeger are having a debate over who's better. Ramstein, or Aerosmith? It started off pretty boring actually, but now it's getting really heated. Jaeger just threw a piece of carrot at Kurt, and Kurt is threatening her with a baked potato.
Oh, by the way, I don't flirt with Jaeger anymore. Why? Well, she kicks really hard, and I've moved on to flirting with Rogue. Yup. I'm on a suicide mission and I'm not gonna stop until I either loose interest or get put in a coma. I prefer the first option to be perfectly honest.
"Ramstein sucks, Aerosmith is what music is all about!" Jaeger yelled at Kurt.
"Ja?" Kurt said, waving around the potato. "Is zhat vhat you zhink? You haven't even heard Ramstein!"
"Like you've heard Aerosmith?"
"I don't need to, I already know Ramstein is vaaay better!"
"They sing in stupid German! Even if I did hear it I couldn't know what they're saying!"
Kurt thought about that for a minute. "Ja, you have a point."
I'm not eating. I wanted to bring some-dare I say it?-blood, but the Professor told me I couldn't bring it to school. Sigh. It's not fair. And I'm so thirsty.
Anyway. Day two in school and already every single teacher hates me. Why? Because I'm known as "the Pants-less Wonder" by every kid in school. I think I deserve a round of applause.
But that principal-what's his name? Kelly? Karin?-doesn't think so. He said, "One more act like that and I'll have you suspended for a month!" To be honest, I could care less, but the Professor tells me my parents would care very much, so I wear all my clothes now.
As lunch cleared out I wove my way to gym class, which I have with Kurt. Evan and Jaeger have it the same period, just in a different gym, which is a real shame. Oh well, at least now Jaeger can't kick me. My leg still hurts from that...
Evan and Jaeger were lucky. They get to play basketball. We have to play volleyball. I hate volleyball. The only good thing about it is girls in bikinis, but they don't allow that at school.
At least Demon-boy and me are on the same side. A couple kids from the Brotherhood were on the other team; I think their names are Tabitha and Todd. They are so going down, even though I suck at volleyball. I'm gonna kick their asses from here to Timbuktu, and I don't even know where that is! Someplace in Africa I think...
The coach blew the whistle and some kid served the ball. I watched it with intent eyes, waiting for a chance to show-off. What can I say, I like showing-off, wouldn't you?
I got my chance. The ball flew over the net, right at me. I hit it as hard as I could.
Score! It landed on Toad's head! That's even better than I thought!
"Yo!" he yelped as the ball crashed into his skull. I laughed. Everyone on my team followed suit. "Who did that? Who? I'll kill 'em!"
I waved at him. "You have me to thank for that."
"What? You?" he glared at me and shook his fist. "You practically gave me a concussion! I'll get you for this Lestat!"
Lestat? Hm. Yes, it does suit me, doesn't it?
"Bring it on, Loser!" I dared him.
I realized later that I shouldn't've done that.
The game started up again. The ball came my, I ran up to the net to greet it, and-
WHAP!
I slid backwards on the floor. The little frog-boy punched me! I growled. I could taste my own blood in my mouth. I hate to say this, but it tasted a whole lot better than pigs' blood. I sucked on my lip a bit to stop the bleeding. The fact that it tasted good has nothing to do with it. My teammates gathered around me to see if I was ok.
"Hey, are you alright?" someone said.
"I'm fine, but Tolanthki won't be tho lucky."
Huh? "Tho?" I meant "so." Why did I...
I stood up. Kurt came up behind me. "Hey, man. Are you ok?"
"No," I told him. "My lip'th bleeding, and I have a lithp!"
Whose cruel idea was it to put a "s" in the word "lisp?"
"Vhat happened to eyes, man?"
"Huh? What about my eyeth?"
"And your teeth?"
"Huh?" I thrust my hands in my mouth and sure enough. I felt my canines had sharpened into long points.
I ran towards the door, ignoring the coach's orders to stop. I threw myself down the hall, looking for the nearest bathroom. On my way I ran into Kitty.
"Van like, what's wrong?"
"I don't know." I confessed. "But I need to find a bathroom, quick!"
"There's like, one just down there," she said pointing. "But what's wrong? And what happened to your eyes?"
"What?" I demanded. "What'th wrong with my eyeth?"
"They're all like, red and stuff."
What? My eyes are supposed to be gray. They've always been gray. What's going on?
"Bye," I said, bolting down the hall.
I saw the bathroom and threw myself in. No one else was there. I ran over to the mirrors to see what happened to my eyes. And my teeth.
Huh? Where am I? I can't see my reflection. I know I'm a vampire, but so far I've always been able to see my reflection. And I've always been able to go out in sunlight. God, I hope that rule hasn't changed. I slammed my fist down against the sink in irritation.
Holy crap.
I busted a sink!
No really! Water is spraying everywhere, the sink is smashed up on the floor. What is going on?
"Hey man," I heard a voice behind me. "What the hell just happened? Did you do that?"
I turned and faced a really freaked out kid. He couldn't have been more freaked than me. I shook my head. "No, I just walked in and found it this way."
What? My lisp is gone! Yes! I also stopped bleeding. I wonder if that has anything to do with it? Oh well, I'm back to normal, except for that... sink smashing thing.
"Whatever man," the kid said backing away. "I'm outa here."
"Me too," I said, following him.
~*~
Van
I got back to the Institute at 4:30. I haven't told anyone about what happened. But I'm on my way to Xavier to tell him. I sent out a mental vibe- thing.
~Hey,~ I thought. ~Professor? You there?~
~Yes,~ came the response. ~I'm here, Van. What do you need?~
~I need to talk to you about some stuff. Something happened at school today and-~
~I understand. I'll see you in a minute.~
So a few minutes later I was sitting on a couch beside Professor Xavier, telling him what happened. "Then I smashed my fist down on the sink and it broke. I don't know what happened. And then when I talked to that guy, my lisp was gone!"
He nodded. "And you said earlier that you have suspicions about your bleeding having something to do with this."
"Yeah."
"Hm," he said, leaning back in his chair. "I'll have to think about this. You're free to go."
I stood up. I hope he comes up with a plan soon.
"Oh, and Van," he called as I approached the door. "Don't bite your lip. Just in case that does have to do with what happened before."
I nodded and left, only to bump into a really worried looking Kitty. "Kurt says you flipped out in gym class," she said. "And then I like, saw your eyes. Like, what happened?"
"I really don't know," I said helplessly. "I think it has something to do with me drinking human blood, but-"
"Ewwww!" She made a disgusted face and backed away from me slowly. "You drank human blood?"
"It's not what you think!" I tried to tell her. "I cut my lip and voila! Human blood. I didn't ask it to happen! It just... did. But anyway, I went all ballistic. Don't blame me and don't give that Oh-My-God-You're-A-Blood- Sucking-Vampire-Don't-Eat-Me look!"
"Sorry," she stammered. "It's just a little creepy, you know?"
Yeah. I know exactly what she's talking about. But it's even creepier for me. I'm the one drinking the blood, not them! Hold on... is that why they're scared? They shouldn't be! I would never drink human blood if given a choice! Despite the fact that it's the best thing I've ever tasted... No! Fight the urge! Must not drink blood!
Man, just the thought makes me thirsty.
"Well," Kitty walked off. "Bye."
"Yeah," I said. "Bye."
I hope I get this vampire thing sorted out soon. It's driving me crazy!
~Van,~ I heard the mental vibe-thing again. ~Could you come back for a minute? I would like to have Hank run a few tests.~
I turned back to Xavier's office. I didn't really like the idea of having Mr. McCoy run tests on me, but if it helps me with this problem... sure, I'll do it.
~*~
Lonna
"Come on, Lonna!"
I moaned. "Go away! Little pests."
"Please?"
"Fine," I groaned, hauling myself out my nice, warm bed. "What do you want?"
"You promised that if we woke you up at 11:30 you'd take us out to roast marshmallows. Look! We even got the marshmallows ourselves!"
I glared at the group of monsters. All nine of them. Kelly, Calvin, Connor, Libby, R.J., Jill, Andrew, Karen, and Janet. Every single one of them between seven and ten years old. I kinda look after the group. I'm the second oldest at the orphanage. I'm fourteen and these little brats look up to me, so I take it upon myself to teach them the important things in life, like how to climb trees, how to play chess, how to roast marshmallows, and most importantly, how to survive in the wild expanses of...
The backyard!
No, really, our backyard it huge! I mean, picture a football field and multiply it by three. Now picture half of that covered in a forest, an eighth in a lake, and the rest just wide-open space.
I love adventures. I love sneaking out at night into the creepy, foggy forest. We go to our hide-away and tell scary stories. I love it!
Which is why I'm helping nine other kids sneak out of the house at eleven o'clock at night.
As we passed the door a band of three cats approached us. The oldest one, Sphinx, is the color of sand with black tipped ears and jade-green eyes. The middle aged one, Ginger, is a slender tabby with amazingly orange eyes. And the youngest, Leon, is a black cat with just your average hazel-gold eyes. I love cats. They're great.
We ran across the yard, cats following close behind, and into the forest. We followed a small path and came to a clearing. In this clearing there is a small pile of sticks surrounded by logs for us to sit on. It was our little hide away.
The cats jumped around the trees, playing with each other and chasing invisible objects. The others all sat down while I walked over to a hollowed out tree and pulled out our hidden stash of matches. I lit one and set the fire. The others opened the bag of marshmallows and began putting them on sticks.
"Make sure your stick doesn't burn," I warned them. "Remember what happened last time?"
"Hey Lonna," Calvin and Connor (the twins) said in unison. "Tell us a story. A scary story!"
"Yeah, yeah!" the others chanted.
I shrugged. "Ok, just don't scream too loud. The last thing we need is Mr. Cooger waking up again."
I sat down on one of the logs between Jill and R.J. Clearing my throat I launched into one of my stories. I must admit, I tell a mean scary story. I tried not to laugh as my audience gasped and hid their eyes.
"The werewolf's eyes burned with a bloodthirsty rage. It drew closer, baring its long, dagger-like teeth, waiting for the perfect chance to strike!"
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr...
I paused. Did I just hear a-
Grrrrrrrrrr...
Yeah, I did. The kids, seeing my uneasiness, started to get real jumpy. I listened intently, maybe it was just my imagination, I was getting too involved with the story. I shook my head and continued. "The young girl was trapped with nowhere to go. The wolf gro-"
Grrrrrrrrrr...
I stopped again. I know I heard something that time. The bushes rustled and I saw the cats leap out, running as fast as I'd ever seen them run. I'd never seen them this panic-stricken. Chills went up my spine.
"L-lonna?" Andrew asked. "What is that?"
Huh? What is what?
I turned. Oh, that.
I wasn't pleased with what I saw. The kids all ran behind me, hiding. I saw a wolf. A big, rabid, dark gray wolf.
The wolf's eyes burned with a bloodthirsty rage. It drew closer, baring its long, dagger-like teeth, waiting for the perfect chance to strike. It growled at us, foam dripping from its mouth.
"Guys," I warned the rest of the crew. "Don't make a move. I'm gonna count to three. When I get to three, run as fast as you can back to the house, ok?"
No one said anything, but I knew the message got through. "One."
The wolf crouched, ready to pounce. "Two."
I was too slow, the thing lunged at me! I threw my arms up to protect myself and crammed my eyes shut. But instead of feeling teeth grip my arm, I heard a loud yelp and opened my eyes as the wolf fell to the ground.
_~*~_
ME: Ok, a bit of a cliffhanger, but you'll have to wait for the next chapter. Anyway, I said it once, I'll say it again, EVERYBODY, REVIEW! PLEASE!?!
See ya' when I see ya'. Bye!
PS: Van gets new abilities in this ch. too.
Ch. 4: Vampirism
Van
It's late. About 11:35. We're at the warehouse. And we split up. I'm with Goth-girl, (who by the way looks really good in latex.), and Spyke-man. I still don't know what we're looking for, so I'm just following Evan and Rogue around.
CLANK!
What the hell was that? I'm freaking out; this place is spooky to the power of ten! I felt a gust of wind and-
"Hey there vampire-boy," I heard an annoyingly cocky voice call.
"Pietro!" Evan's shout echoed through the building, making it even creepier than before. He stuck out his spikes and shot them.
Hey, that guy's fast. He was like, ten feet away from me, and now he's leaning his elbow on my shoulder like we're good friends. Which we're not! "Hey man," I pushed him. "Get offa me!" But he was too fast, so I ended up just pushing air, and I fell over.
HOW EMBARASSING!!!
He laughed an annoying little laugh and I growled. I picked myself up and threw myself at him!
Nope. I fell on my face again. I need a new routine. No, I need a gun. Yeah, a gun...
"Can't catch me!" he chanted. "You can't catch me! I'm too fast."
Like hell he is. And it sucks too. I pulled my face out of the ground, but he wasn't there. Neither was Rogue, or Evan. Man, they ran off in hot pursuit and I got to eat dirt. Shit. Life sucks.
I wandered off aimlessly, looking for my "partners" and almost smacked into-
"Hey Van, I see you're wearing pants now."
Jaeger.
"Shall we dance?" I asked, smiling evilly. I'm gonna kick. Her. Ass.
"Bring it," she said. She drew back her leg, and before I could react, kicked me in the shin. Hard!
I clutched my leg in pain. Holy matrimony, she kicks like hell! OW! I thought vampires were impervious to this kind of crap.
"Hey," she said. "I thought vampires were immune to pain. Cool."
NOT FAIR!!! But it is kinda' funny that she didn't know either.
I hopped around on one leg, trying to ease the pain, and she just turned around and walked off. Gr. She thinks she's sooooo good. All she does is kick really hard. That has nothing to do with skill. Nothing!
BAMF!
"Vhat happened to you?" Kurt asked.
"Your girlfriend kicked me!"
He looked confused. "Jaeger?" he asked. "She's not mein girlfriend."
"She's a girl and she's your friend, thus being your girlfriend. Anyhow, she kicked me."
He smiled. "I'm glad you two get along alright."
"Yeah, right." I said, rolling my eyes. "She adores me."
He teleported me back to the others, who were still duking it out with the Brotherhood. I watched for a while, but I noticed that Jaeger was nowhere to be seen. Chills went up my spine. She could be anywhere, waiting for me. Waiting to kick my ass.
No, no. I'm being paranoid.
The battle went good. I never saw Jaeger for the rest of the night, and the X-men creamed the Brotherhood. Life is sweet. Despite all the pain in my shin.
~*~
Van
Today is a cold day like any other cold day in winter. I'm wearing pants now, it's lunch period, and I'm stuffing my fingers in my mouth trying not to laugh. Why? Kurt and Jaeger are having a debate over who's better. Ramstein, or Aerosmith? It started off pretty boring actually, but now it's getting really heated. Jaeger just threw a piece of carrot at Kurt, and Kurt is threatening her with a baked potato.
Oh, by the way, I don't flirt with Jaeger anymore. Why? Well, she kicks really hard, and I've moved on to flirting with Rogue. Yup. I'm on a suicide mission and I'm not gonna stop until I either loose interest or get put in a coma. I prefer the first option to be perfectly honest.
"Ramstein sucks, Aerosmith is what music is all about!" Jaeger yelled at Kurt.
"Ja?" Kurt said, waving around the potato. "Is zhat vhat you zhink? You haven't even heard Ramstein!"
"Like you've heard Aerosmith?"
"I don't need to, I already know Ramstein is vaaay better!"
"They sing in stupid German! Even if I did hear it I couldn't know what they're saying!"
Kurt thought about that for a minute. "Ja, you have a point."
I'm not eating. I wanted to bring some-dare I say it?-blood, but the Professor told me I couldn't bring it to school. Sigh. It's not fair. And I'm so thirsty.
Anyway. Day two in school and already every single teacher hates me. Why? Because I'm known as "the Pants-less Wonder" by every kid in school. I think I deserve a round of applause.
But that principal-what's his name? Kelly? Karin?-doesn't think so. He said, "One more act like that and I'll have you suspended for a month!" To be honest, I could care less, but the Professor tells me my parents would care very much, so I wear all my clothes now.
As lunch cleared out I wove my way to gym class, which I have with Kurt. Evan and Jaeger have it the same period, just in a different gym, which is a real shame. Oh well, at least now Jaeger can't kick me. My leg still hurts from that...
Evan and Jaeger were lucky. They get to play basketball. We have to play volleyball. I hate volleyball. The only good thing about it is girls in bikinis, but they don't allow that at school.
At least Demon-boy and me are on the same side. A couple kids from the Brotherhood were on the other team; I think their names are Tabitha and Todd. They are so going down, even though I suck at volleyball. I'm gonna kick their asses from here to Timbuktu, and I don't even know where that is! Someplace in Africa I think...
The coach blew the whistle and some kid served the ball. I watched it with intent eyes, waiting for a chance to show-off. What can I say, I like showing-off, wouldn't you?
I got my chance. The ball flew over the net, right at me. I hit it as hard as I could.
Score! It landed on Toad's head! That's even better than I thought!
"Yo!" he yelped as the ball crashed into his skull. I laughed. Everyone on my team followed suit. "Who did that? Who? I'll kill 'em!"
I waved at him. "You have me to thank for that."
"What? You?" he glared at me and shook his fist. "You practically gave me a concussion! I'll get you for this Lestat!"
Lestat? Hm. Yes, it does suit me, doesn't it?
"Bring it on, Loser!" I dared him.
I realized later that I shouldn't've done that.
The game started up again. The ball came my, I ran up to the net to greet it, and-
WHAP!
I slid backwards on the floor. The little frog-boy punched me! I growled. I could taste my own blood in my mouth. I hate to say this, but it tasted a whole lot better than pigs' blood. I sucked on my lip a bit to stop the bleeding. The fact that it tasted good has nothing to do with it. My teammates gathered around me to see if I was ok.
"Hey, are you alright?" someone said.
"I'm fine, but Tolanthki won't be tho lucky."
Huh? "Tho?" I meant "so." Why did I...
I stood up. Kurt came up behind me. "Hey, man. Are you ok?"
"No," I told him. "My lip'th bleeding, and I have a lithp!"
Whose cruel idea was it to put a "s" in the word "lisp?"
"Vhat happened to eyes, man?"
"Huh? What about my eyeth?"
"And your teeth?"
"Huh?" I thrust my hands in my mouth and sure enough. I felt my canines had sharpened into long points.
I ran towards the door, ignoring the coach's orders to stop. I threw myself down the hall, looking for the nearest bathroom. On my way I ran into Kitty.
"Van like, what's wrong?"
"I don't know." I confessed. "But I need to find a bathroom, quick!"
"There's like, one just down there," she said pointing. "But what's wrong? And what happened to your eyes?"
"What?" I demanded. "What'th wrong with my eyeth?"
"They're all like, red and stuff."
What? My eyes are supposed to be gray. They've always been gray. What's going on?
"Bye," I said, bolting down the hall.
I saw the bathroom and threw myself in. No one else was there. I ran over to the mirrors to see what happened to my eyes. And my teeth.
Huh? Where am I? I can't see my reflection. I know I'm a vampire, but so far I've always been able to see my reflection. And I've always been able to go out in sunlight. God, I hope that rule hasn't changed. I slammed my fist down against the sink in irritation.
Holy crap.
I busted a sink!
No really! Water is spraying everywhere, the sink is smashed up on the floor. What is going on?
"Hey man," I heard a voice behind me. "What the hell just happened? Did you do that?"
I turned and faced a really freaked out kid. He couldn't have been more freaked than me. I shook my head. "No, I just walked in and found it this way."
What? My lisp is gone! Yes! I also stopped bleeding. I wonder if that has anything to do with it? Oh well, I'm back to normal, except for that... sink smashing thing.
"Whatever man," the kid said backing away. "I'm outa here."
"Me too," I said, following him.
~*~
Van
I got back to the Institute at 4:30. I haven't told anyone about what happened. But I'm on my way to Xavier to tell him. I sent out a mental vibe- thing.
~Hey,~ I thought. ~Professor? You there?~
~Yes,~ came the response. ~I'm here, Van. What do you need?~
~I need to talk to you about some stuff. Something happened at school today and-~
~I understand. I'll see you in a minute.~
So a few minutes later I was sitting on a couch beside Professor Xavier, telling him what happened. "Then I smashed my fist down on the sink and it broke. I don't know what happened. And then when I talked to that guy, my lisp was gone!"
He nodded. "And you said earlier that you have suspicions about your bleeding having something to do with this."
"Yeah."
"Hm," he said, leaning back in his chair. "I'll have to think about this. You're free to go."
I stood up. I hope he comes up with a plan soon.
"Oh, and Van," he called as I approached the door. "Don't bite your lip. Just in case that does have to do with what happened before."
I nodded and left, only to bump into a really worried looking Kitty. "Kurt says you flipped out in gym class," she said. "And then I like, saw your eyes. Like, what happened?"
"I really don't know," I said helplessly. "I think it has something to do with me drinking human blood, but-"
"Ewwww!" She made a disgusted face and backed away from me slowly. "You drank human blood?"
"It's not what you think!" I tried to tell her. "I cut my lip and voila! Human blood. I didn't ask it to happen! It just... did. But anyway, I went all ballistic. Don't blame me and don't give that Oh-My-God-You're-A-Blood- Sucking-Vampire-Don't-Eat-Me look!"
"Sorry," she stammered. "It's just a little creepy, you know?"
Yeah. I know exactly what she's talking about. But it's even creepier for me. I'm the one drinking the blood, not them! Hold on... is that why they're scared? They shouldn't be! I would never drink human blood if given a choice! Despite the fact that it's the best thing I've ever tasted... No! Fight the urge! Must not drink blood!
Man, just the thought makes me thirsty.
"Well," Kitty walked off. "Bye."
"Yeah," I said. "Bye."
I hope I get this vampire thing sorted out soon. It's driving me crazy!
~Van,~ I heard the mental vibe-thing again. ~Could you come back for a minute? I would like to have Hank run a few tests.~
I turned back to Xavier's office. I didn't really like the idea of having Mr. McCoy run tests on me, but if it helps me with this problem... sure, I'll do it.
~*~
Lonna
"Come on, Lonna!"
I moaned. "Go away! Little pests."
"Please?"
"Fine," I groaned, hauling myself out my nice, warm bed. "What do you want?"
"You promised that if we woke you up at 11:30 you'd take us out to roast marshmallows. Look! We even got the marshmallows ourselves!"
I glared at the group of monsters. All nine of them. Kelly, Calvin, Connor, Libby, R.J., Jill, Andrew, Karen, and Janet. Every single one of them between seven and ten years old. I kinda look after the group. I'm the second oldest at the orphanage. I'm fourteen and these little brats look up to me, so I take it upon myself to teach them the important things in life, like how to climb trees, how to play chess, how to roast marshmallows, and most importantly, how to survive in the wild expanses of...
The backyard!
No, really, our backyard it huge! I mean, picture a football field and multiply it by three. Now picture half of that covered in a forest, an eighth in a lake, and the rest just wide-open space.
I love adventures. I love sneaking out at night into the creepy, foggy forest. We go to our hide-away and tell scary stories. I love it!
Which is why I'm helping nine other kids sneak out of the house at eleven o'clock at night.
As we passed the door a band of three cats approached us. The oldest one, Sphinx, is the color of sand with black tipped ears and jade-green eyes. The middle aged one, Ginger, is a slender tabby with amazingly orange eyes. And the youngest, Leon, is a black cat with just your average hazel-gold eyes. I love cats. They're great.
We ran across the yard, cats following close behind, and into the forest. We followed a small path and came to a clearing. In this clearing there is a small pile of sticks surrounded by logs for us to sit on. It was our little hide away.
The cats jumped around the trees, playing with each other and chasing invisible objects. The others all sat down while I walked over to a hollowed out tree and pulled out our hidden stash of matches. I lit one and set the fire. The others opened the bag of marshmallows and began putting them on sticks.
"Make sure your stick doesn't burn," I warned them. "Remember what happened last time?"
"Hey Lonna," Calvin and Connor (the twins) said in unison. "Tell us a story. A scary story!"
"Yeah, yeah!" the others chanted.
I shrugged. "Ok, just don't scream too loud. The last thing we need is Mr. Cooger waking up again."
I sat down on one of the logs between Jill and R.J. Clearing my throat I launched into one of my stories. I must admit, I tell a mean scary story. I tried not to laugh as my audience gasped and hid their eyes.
"The werewolf's eyes burned with a bloodthirsty rage. It drew closer, baring its long, dagger-like teeth, waiting for the perfect chance to strike!"
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr...
I paused. Did I just hear a-
Grrrrrrrrrr...
Yeah, I did. The kids, seeing my uneasiness, started to get real jumpy. I listened intently, maybe it was just my imagination, I was getting too involved with the story. I shook my head and continued. "The young girl was trapped with nowhere to go. The wolf gro-"
Grrrrrrrrrr...
I stopped again. I know I heard something that time. The bushes rustled and I saw the cats leap out, running as fast as I'd ever seen them run. I'd never seen them this panic-stricken. Chills went up my spine.
"L-lonna?" Andrew asked. "What is that?"
Huh? What is what?
I turned. Oh, that.
I wasn't pleased with what I saw. The kids all ran behind me, hiding. I saw a wolf. A big, rabid, dark gray wolf.
The wolf's eyes burned with a bloodthirsty rage. It drew closer, baring its long, dagger-like teeth, waiting for the perfect chance to strike. It growled at us, foam dripping from its mouth.
"Guys," I warned the rest of the crew. "Don't make a move. I'm gonna count to three. When I get to three, run as fast as you can back to the house, ok?"
No one said anything, but I knew the message got through. "One."
The wolf crouched, ready to pounce. "Two."
I was too slow, the thing lunged at me! I threw my arms up to protect myself and crammed my eyes shut. But instead of feeling teeth grip my arm, I heard a loud yelp and opened my eyes as the wolf fell to the ground.
_~*~_
ME: Ok, a bit of a cliffhanger, but you'll have to wait for the next chapter. Anyway, I said it once, I'll say it again, EVERYBODY, REVIEW! PLEASE!?!
See ya' when I see ya'. Bye!