Well, I've got it now (obviously)! And I think this chapter is written a little better. I dunno, you tell me.
Jeez, how could I be so stupid? I should have been able to sense it; he obviously wasn't all that old and experienced, barely able to mask his aura at all. I suppose it was because I just never expected such a dimwit to be one and be able to survive in our world. But he had to be at least slightly powerful to be able to hide his aura like that. I of course do the same and I'm absolutely positive I would have picked up on his aura if I'd been thinking at all. Wow, I'm getting sloppy. But anyway, none of this matters right now. What matters is that this guy is trying to bleed Lina!
I saw his fangs slide out of their sheaths in his mouth ever so slightly more, in the anticipation of warm, sweet blood. He was about to go for it. His fangs pierced her skin somewhat and Lina gasped. I knew he was about to make it pleasurable, as most of us have to power to do. Soon she'd be more than willing to give up every last drop of blood in her body.
I finally left my hiding place and tackled Gourry to the ground. I had him pinned under me and was punching the crap out of his face. I knew that once his shock receded, his regeneration would kick in pretty fast and I was just wasting my time, but man, it felt good. And I got the satisfaction of seeing his face swell and all that good stuff while he was still so surprised.
"What the heck are you doing!" Gourry yelled. He looked up at me, noticing who it was that was trying to beat him up. "You!" he spat out.
I smirked. "Yup. It's me alright." I leaned in close to him, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him toward me even more. "And I know what you were trying to do," I whispered in his ear.
He stiffened and paused before saying cautiously. "What are you talking about?"
I rolled me eyes. "You know what I'm talking about," I knew I probably should have been acting a bit more mean and threatening to this imbecile, but I was having fun having the upper hand; it gives me a sort of rush of exhilaration to have power over another vampire. But then I thought about what would have happened to Lina if I hadn't been around. My gaze hardened and I sat up, bringing him with me roughly by the hand still at his shirt collar, my glaring face was barely inches from his. I growled at him, "You were trying to bleed Lina."
I saw a look of shock on his vampiric pale face before a cloud of mixed rage and fear passed over it. He shoved me off him and we separated before crouching warily, ready for a fight.
Unlike Gourry, whose muscles were tense, like a tightly coiled spring, I was relaxed. I fought better that way, without thinking, just letting my reflexes and instincts take over. When dealing with another vampire, unless, in rare cases, you have an extreme upper hand in the strength area, brute, mindless force usually isn't going to cut it; you also have to be smarter. Throwing random blows and expecting to come out alive, yeah, not too smart.
But it won't hurt to just see how closely matched we are in the strength department, now will it? No, of course not. Besides, it's been a while since I've had a good work out.
I finally lashed out at him, feinting left before going in for a solid right hook to the underside of his jaw. He fell for the feint, idiot, and my hit connected soundly, sending him up and spinning before crashing into the ground. I smirked.
Gourry got up slowly and looked down at his suit. Well, it was ruined, no doubt about that; it was covered in mud and grime and torn in a few places, and, God forbid...WRINKLED! His hair wasn't quite so pretty anymore either, more like completely messed up and a hindrance in fighting with it being so long. And while he couldn't see his hair, he was still plenty upset about his stupid expensive suit I ruined. He roared before finally coming at me.
I let his punch hit me, just bracing myself and doing nothing to block; I want to see how he compares. My head whipped to the side, but nothing more. Well, he was stronger than a human, but pretty puny by vampire standards.
"Well, it looks like I've got you beat in the strength department, eh Gourry?" I asked good-naturedly. His response wasn't quite as nice; he just scowled at me. I held up an index finger, indicating for him to cool it for a second. "But I've got a second test that you may be able to prove yourself with. How's your speed?"
Yeah, I know, I'm supposed to be beating the crap out of him and there's supposed to be a long, elaborate fight scene right now. Well, I'm not going that way. At least, not right this minute, I'll get there eventually though, don't worry about it. Who says I can't have fun first, before I send him running with his tail between his legs?
Grudgingly, he responded to my challenge. "What is it that you have in mind?" he asked warily.
"Oh, it's nothing much really," I started out vaguely, innocently. "I was just thinking we'd go to that flower shop about 5 miles south of here, you know where 'm talking about?" He nodded dumbly. "Yeah, anyway, grab a flower for our dear lady here and bring it back to this place. Pay for it or don't, your choice. And I'm sure you know by now how to steal stealthily?" He nodded again, this time with a rather arrogant grin.
"Ok, you're on. I'm ready for this one and I'm gonna whip your butt."
I grinned myself. What a buffoon. "Great. On 7. 1,2,3-"
He interrupted me to say, "7? Isn't it usually 3? Sometimes 5,or maybe 10?"
I glared at him and said in a defensive tone, "I like 7 better. Is there something wrong with that?"
"Well, no, I guess not, but- never mind. Continue," he blabbered after scratching his head confusedly.
"Well, now that I have your permission..." I said sarcastically. "1,2,3,4,5,6...7!" I sped off and was there in 117 seconds. I didn't see Gourry anywhere, so either he was way faster than me and had already been in and out (which I very highly doubt), or he's slow and hasn't been here yet. I shrugged and went on in, looking around. I found a large, beautiful, deep crimson rose, fully bloomed. There was still no sign of the dimwit, so I didn't see any harm in actually paying for it. Besides, Lina would be furious at me if she found out I stole it. And believe me, Lina furious is not a pretty sight, even for someone like me.
I stopped for a second. Oh man, Lina. She probably thought I was a horrible freak, a murderer and was either terrified of me, hated me, or was disgusted with me. Or maybe it was all of that! Crap! This wasn't fair! I never asked to be made a vampire, I never asked to get involved with Lina. Meh. Oh well, I'll have to deal with that later. Right now I have to deal with Gourry.
I was just getting my change from the cashier when he finally stumbled in. I smiled and waved. "Why, it's so nice of you to drop in, but I'm afraid I have to go now. Ciao!" And I strolled out of there, all the while smiling sweetly.
I sped off again, although taking my time a bit, cradling the rose against my chest to keep it ruined. I reached the school, where Lina was sitting on a bench in the area we'd been in earlier.
I knelt before her and presented the rose gallantly. "For you my fair lady," I said gently, teasing. I felt uncharacteristically anxious as I waited for her response, to see if she still wanted anything to do with me.
But she smiled slightly as she took the rose from my hand, lightly brushing my fingers with her own as she did so, and my nervousness started to fade. "Why thank you my gallant knight."
Her soft smile slipped as she asked, "Zel, what's going on?"
I sighed. "I'll explain it all later. I promise. I just have to get rid of Gourry first. He should be here soon by the way."
She twirled the rose between her fingers lightly, minding the thorns. "This is absolutely gorgeous Zel." She then proceeded to give me a suspicious glare out of the corner of her eye. "You didn't steal it, did you?"
I feigned looking hurt. "Me? Steal? Oh Lina, you don't know me at all." I put the back of my hand to my forehead dramatically.
She rolled her eyes at me and shrugged. "I don't know. Just making sure. The guy I knew before probably wouldn't, but are you really him?" She said it casually, but she was looking at me intensely, searching for an answer.
I opened my mouth to answer her, but Gourry, of course, chose that moment to finally arrive. Wow, he must really be young; he still seemed to think he needed to breathe, because he sounded rather winded. Well, it does quite a long time to get used to it, and I think he'd take longer to understand things than most people anyway, so I guess I can't really take that into much consideration.
Lina and I both scowled at him and I said, "Must you ruin everything?"
He sneered at me in response. "Yeah, I do. No more of your stupid games now. I don't want to spend any more time around you than necessary."
"Oh, ouch. That's harsh buddy. But the feeling's mutual." Then I tapped my chin thoughtfully with a long, pale finger. "Well, since you put it that way though...I suppose you're right, the games will stop. I still won both of them though," I announced, sticking my tongue out at him childishly, before commanding, "Give your flower to Lina now."
He snorted and threw the flower at Lina's feet. It was a small flower, dyed bright pink. Lina glared at Gourry and ground the thing into the dirt with her foot. "Just the kind of flower I expected a typical stuck up guy like you to give. I prefer naturally pretty flowers over dyed ones. And I hate pink!" Heh, I knew all that.
I stared smugly at my opponent. "You didn't pay for that, did you?" I asked. Because if you had, you wouldn't have gotten here when you did." It was true, and I knew it.
I heard his teeth grinding as he grudgingly answered, "No, I didn't."
I grinned and said gleefully, "Oh, this is great! First your so called 'girlfriend' grinds the stupid flower you gave her into the ground and then you're forced to admit you didn't even pay for it. Bet you don't feel quite as slick as you did when this lovely evening started, huh?"
Gourry literally snarled at me. "Ok you little twit, no more of this. Let's get this done. Your ass is grass."
I shrugged casually while I reached out with my own aura to lightly touch his. I recoiled back to myself quickly. Jeez! This was unreal! His aura was huge and powerful, but worst of all, it was completely out of control. With him being as angry as he obviously was, he lost what little control he had over it. That was dangerous. He could end up killing not only me, but him as well, and Lina. I can beat him, I know, but it may be a bit difficult.
