Chapter 4

To Date, Stake, and Hunt

Connor stood outside room 214, taking deep breaths in order to temper his racing nerves. He hoped he had dressed appropriately for the occasion, having chosen a tan linen shirt and jeans. Although it had been a sweltering day, the night had brought a cool breeze in from the west that made such attire comfortable. The shirt was expensive, too expensive for a student on an academic scholarship, but it had been a gift from his father, his real father. He still marveled at the new memories of a past he hadn't known existed that tangled with his memories of the family that hadn't really been his. It was hard to believe that he had vampires for parents, and his father was the head of a multi-million dollar evil law firm; although he wasn't evil, whatever kind of sense that made. But only a few knew his secret, not even his parents; the ones he privately referred to as his adoptive parents for lack of anything else to call them. He had no desire to let anyone else in on the secret that made him a freak.

Connor suddenly realized he had been standing in the hallway lost in thought for several minutes and decided it was time to put all that shit in the back of his mind and knock on her door. When she opened it, the sight of her floored him. She was dressed in a sundress that clung nicely to her curves before fanning out in flowing ripples at the bottom. She had put her hair up, which accentuated her large eyes that sparkled bright blue encased in the soft black lashes that seemed to go on forever. He wandered what it would feel like to brush his lips against their feathery form. He stood there speechless, just staring at her, and dropped his gaze to her full red mouth. It was the movement of her lips that brought him out of his stupor, not the words that emanated from them that he hadn't heard.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that," he said feeling flushed from his examination of her.

"I just said hi, and that you looked nice."

"Well you look unbelievable." He said this aloud before he had the chance to form a coherent response to her statement that wouldn't have given away quite so much of his admiration, which probably resembled pathetic puppy love to her.

"Thanks, that's what I was going for," she said sweetly. "Are you ready to go?"

His response was a slight nod of his head as he gently took her hand in his.

The night had flown by. They talked for hours in the coffee shop, neither realizing how late it was getting until the manager had told them he was closing up, causing them to look around and notice that they were the only ones left. Connor stood, and as he leaned down to help her up off the couch a beautiful pendent fell from beneath his shirt. He quickly tucked it back in, as if in an attempt to return it to its hiding place, never acknowledging its existence.

As they walked back to her room, Dawn became nervous about the inevitable moment at the door when the decision over whether or not there would be a good-night kiss would occur. In her nervousness, she managed to drop her purse, the contents splayed across the campus walk. It was then that she saw Mr. Pointy Jr. and quickly made a move to grab it before Connor saw it. No such luck. He held it tightly in his hand and looked at it in obvious confusion. Connor took her hand in his other to help her up off the ground.

"Dare I ask what this is?"

"Well, you know how some people have security blankets, well this is mine. Uh, my father carved it and gave it to me when I was five, and I haven't been without it since."

"Don't you think this is a tad dangerous for a five year old?"

"Well, that was my dad, never really great with the parenting." Dawn reached out to take the stake out of his hand. He was now looking at her strangely, as if he wanted to ask her something.

"Uh. Dawn, do you maybe carry it as some sort of protection?"

"Well, I guess it could be good for that as well, sharp as a knife, but more fashionable. Did you notice it's pink?"

"So, muggers then. Have you come across many? Say here on campus?"

"Nope no muggers here, but I did go to a fairly dangerous school. All the cool kids carried these. Seems I started some kind of fad and before I knew if, everyone had one." Dawn was babbling almost incoherently now, fear that she would have to explain its real use kept her searching madly for additional excuses for why anyone would be carrying a pointed piece of wood in her purse. But Connor gave her one last searching look then seemed to brush it off.

"Well, it's good to know you can protect yourself if you come into contact with any…muggers. My suggestion however, would be to run away screaming for help." He pulled her so that she was standing directly in front of him so that he was looking hard into her eyes. "Promise me that you'll do the smart thing and take off at the first sign of danger."

"Of course, I'm no super hero."

"Good, well, let's get you back to your room.

When they reached her door, she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, bypassing the tension she had been dreading. When she closed the door behind her, she leaned back against it hoping that he called her again, and that he didn't now think she was some sort of freak. Stupid Pointy Jr.

Connor walked away from her door, and instead of heading up to his room, decided to take a walk outside. His thoughts kept wondering back to the stake that had fallen out of her bag. Was it possible she knew about vampires? It wasn't such a hard thing to believe, they made their presence known quite often and it always amazed him at how readily people discounted demon activity by rationalizing it away somehow. He hadn't come into contact with a demon until meeting his father, and now they seemed everywhere. Had he at one time been one of those pathetic demondenialaholics? It didn't matter however if she knew about demons or not, because there was no way he was going to tell her about his connection to that world.

Connor had really wanted to kiss her good-night at her door, but obviously she hadn't felt the same way. He could still feel the magnetism of her touch just under his skin, rushing within his blood. He knew there was only one way to release these feelings. He needed to go hunting.