Eternal Night

By: Ryan Reeves

5. Gifted

My mind was buzzing with questions as I processed what Bree had just said to me. I sat in silence for a while before I could formulate an articulate thought once more.

"Controlled? Like Hypnosis or something?"

"Something like that I suppose." She said breathlessly.

The shame of what she had done was still etched into her features. I stared at her for a while wishing I could somehow make her feel better. Then a thought suddenly occurred to me. It was more of a blurred memory than an idea, of an old black and white movie with a black haired man in a cape, luring a woman in a white dress to his side.

"Dracula.." I whispered to no one in particular

"What?" Bree looked at me with confusion in her face.

"Dracula. The Vampire. He could sort of control his victims. So I was thinking. Is what I do something all vampires can do?" I looked at her for support.

"No." she said matter – of- factly "Dracula is fantasy. What you can do. Not many, if any, vampires can. "

I sighed than I suddenly remembered something from a previous conversation I had with Riley. I opened the door of the car and dashed up the front stairs

"What are you going to do?" I heard Bree call out from outside

"Find Riley" I said almost to myself but I knew she would hear me.

I needed to talk to Riley and I wanted to do it before he left. I recalled him mentioning something about vampires with abilities in Forks. Maybe he would have some answers.

It was easy to find his scent inside, even though the house was full of vampires. It looked like there had been another brawl because there was a pile burning in the corner and a thick smoke was eluding from it. Riley's scent came from somewhere upstairs. I gracefully dashed up the stairs and located him in one of the empty bedrooms.

"Riley can I talk to you?" When he looked up, he looked as if he was lost in thought

"Umm sure...but we have to make this quick" his eyes flashed towards the stairs

I ignored that and continued.

"Riley..before you said something about..gifted vampires?"

He eyed me suspiciously. "Um Yeah…I did."

"Well, do you know anything about these gifted vampires?"

He sighed. "Well it's rare, but it is said that certain vampires have…gifts when they are turned...apparently they are intensified traits from your human life."

I pondered that before I continued. What possible trait in my human life did I possible have that could lead to this?

I concentrated hard on the fuzzy memories of my human life, which now seemed ages ago, though it had only been a few days. There were times where I could always convince my mom or my dad to let me off the hook early when I was grounded. I can be very persuasive. I thought to myself.

Riley seemed to get impatient as he was waiting for me to ask more questions. He kept staring at the stairs as if he would bolt at any given minute. I formulated my next question and finally asked.

"These vampires in…Forks was it? Do you know what any of them can do?"

"We… I mean….I'm not very well informed on that subject matter"

Riley seemed to make a movement toward the stairs. I didn't forget that he had said "We". I wondered if I could press my luck.

"Riley..who is it that you are going to see?"

A flash of what looked like fear or anger crossed Riley's face and just as suddenly as it had come it receded into a face of determined calmness.

"Sorry, but I really need to go."

And with that he ran off down the stairs and out of the house. I debated about whether or not I should follow him or not, but then another thought occurred to me. I remembered how thirsty Bree had been and how I promised to take her hunting.

I found her still sitting in the car, staring out of the window. She looked up when she heard my footsteps.

"So…are you ready to go?"

"Go where?" She asked timidly

"You forgot already! Im taking you hunting! And you are taking me to get new clothes."

A slight smile stretched across her face. I ran around to the driver's side of the car and hopped in.

"So do you know any good hunting spots?"

"Oh the night clubs are always fun!" She said happily. She looked me up and down and then continued. "But maybe we should get you the new clothes first"

I chuckled and we sped off into the night.

We found ourselves in the city 15 shorts minutes later. The sun was gone and the buildings were bustling with nightlife. I scanned the area for a nice department store and settled on a nearby Macy's. Two security guards flanked the entrance.

When I stepped out of the car, my body suddenly seized up. The scent of the security guards sent spasms of pain down my throat. Instantly my body repositioned into a crouch. In a fraction of a second Bree was standing next to me in the same position.

The guards couldn't see us from this distance, but we could see every detail of the guards as if we were standing right in front of them. We could see that one was much taller and skinnier than the other, the shorter more husky guard being a female with russet brown skin and dark hair. We could see their veins under their skin pulsing with blood and hear their heartbeats.

As we crept closer, a million thoughts ran through my mind at once. I thought about each and every way I could kill them without notice, every angle in which to attack, and the best place to sink my teeth. At the same time I was also thinking more rationally, reasons why I shouldn't attack. All the while I was getting closer and closer to the guards, not having made my decision.

Finally the rational thoughts began to win out over my thirst and my body relaxed into a casual walk. Beside me Bree glanced up at me and instantly relaxed. We walked right up to the guards, who stared at us opened mouthed with shock. The female was finally able to speak.

"Si-sir Macy's is closed."

I smiled at her and she gasped. I pointed to my suit before I spoke.

"As you can see I really, need a change of clothes."

It took her a while to reformulate her thoughts. It was amusing to me to see how my looks and voice affected her. The male guard was still staring open mouthed at Bree. It was the female guard who spoke again.

"I really am s-s-sorry sir but we can't let you in."

I thought of ways to end this before their scent made me kill them on the spot. I suddenly remembered the incident with Ray and Bree and I wondered If I could apply my "gift" to this scenario.

"Let us in." I said concentrating on the guards.

The guards looked at each other confused. It was the man who finally spoke up for the first time.

"Like we said before, we are closed." He was trying to sound tough, but his voice cracked on the end.

I concentrated harder my face a composed mask, but my mind was swimming, struggling to find that talent that I knew was there inside. I tried to pull up that feeling of authority I had before.

Suddenly a slight red tint covered my vision and I knew this was it.

"Let Us In." I heard the strange authority in my voice before I saw it working.

The two guards' faces were suddenly blank as they turned to unlock the doors and hold them open for us. They said nothing as we glided past them and into the store.

"You know when you do that your eyes kind of glow? It's pretty cool."

I laughed at Bree's comment as she flew past me and headed for the men's clothing racks. She was a blur as she darted from rack to rack pulling off random articles of clothing. Now and then she would disappear and reappear with a shoebox in her hands.

She handed me the mountainous pile of clothes and told me to head to the fitting room. After many outfits and many criticisms by Bree, we both found an outfit we could both agree on.

I was wearing slim fitting black jeans, a form-fitting white t-shirt that accented my new muscles, over top of the t-shirt I was wearing a stylish black vest with an intricate design on the back. The outfit was completed by black and white Chuck Taylor sneakers and a black belt with silver studs all around it.

"This is so much better." I said as I stretched my arms and legs, though it was hardly necessary.

"I agree." Bree said brightly after stepping back to take another look.

Bree had changed too. She was now wearing tight leather pants and a red tank top, her black boots where thigh length and the heels gave her a little more height. Needless to say she was stunning.

When we got back to the entrance, the two guards were back at their post as if nothing had happened. Bree lightly tapped on the door and the two guards turned around astonished at the sight of us. It took them a whole 2 minutes to finally react. They opened the door and proceeded to put us under arrest.

They both recoiled at the touch of our cold skin and that gave us all the time we needed. I heard one of the guards--the female-- calling for back up as we flew across the parking lot, but it was too late we were already across the lot and into the car.

As I peeled out of the parking lot I heard Bree laugh to herself and then she shouted out in amusement. "Next stop, night clubs!"