Chapter 4

As the days turned into weeks, Danny kept a close watch on his older brother and began to take notes on his observations.

Keith had taken to wearing sunglasses just about all the time; even indoors. He claimed that light bothered his eyes somewhat. When Shirley suggested that they have it checked out, he protested and told her that he was sure that it would resolve itself. His mother expressed her doubt, but she let him have his way.

Another thing that Danny noticed (why wasn't anyone else noticing these strange abnormalities? Danny asked himself several times), was that Keith never really regained his coloring. His complexion remained pale.

His brother's appetite was altogether cause for worry. Again, no one else seemed to notice or care (What the heck?). Keith's normally healthy appetite had waned a bit at first, but now it was downright scary. Danny rarely saw his brother put any real food in his mouth. The only thing that he seemed to want was red meat. Rare red meat.

Then there was the new girlfriend, Adrian. The exchange student from who-knows-where.

Oh, she was a real looker alright. One of the things that he admired about his older brother, was his taste in girls. But Danny had never seen anyone like her before. She was so...achingly beautiful, it was scary.

Danny and Punky had been in the park, tossing a Frisbee around. Dusk was settling in and they were getting ready to head home. A flash of movement in the corner of his eye caused him to pause and he turned to look. He was vaguely aware that the frisbee had hit him and fallen to the ground at his feet. He ignored it for now.

She was dressed all in black, from the high heeled boots to the very short mini skirt, topped off with an extremely low cut blouse. It certainly accentuated her assets, Danny thought wryly. Nestled between those assets, lay a large red pendant that hung on a gold chain. As she got closer, he realized that it was a large ruby. She had long wavy, jet black hair; she was wearing it loose, so that the breeze blew it gently around her bewitchingly. It created a stark contrast to her pale skin and ruby red lips, which matched the color of her long fingernails.

This was the first time that he'd seen her up close. Although she was wearing high heels, he could tell that she was of small stature. She walked with confidence toward them. As Danny watched her approach, mesmerized, their eyes momentarily met, she had a wild, hungry look in them. Danny gasped when he realized that her eyes were as black as night. With great effort, he looked away from her intense gaze. That's when he saw Keith.

He seemed to appear from out of nowhere and stepped in front of her, putting himself between her and the two boys. He threw a look over his shoulder at them, and Danny saw a flash of anger on his brother's face.

"Get out of here Danny. Go home." Keith's voice was low and steady. He sounded...funny. Danny had a feeling that he had just been given a warning. About what, he had an idea, but wasn't quite sure.

He watched as Keith took ahold of the beautiful girl's arm and physically turned her around in the opposite direction. The girl didn't protest, she simply let Keith lead her away. Soon, they were out of the park.

Punky had seen everything, and was now standing beside Danny.

He whistled lowly, "Whoa. Who was that?" He stared off in the general direction that they had disappeared.

Danny shrugged as he bent to pick the flying disc up. "I guess that's his new girlfriend. I don't think she's from around here" He tried his best to sound casual.

"Damn." Punky swore softly. "Your brother has all the luck." He said admiringly. "She was one hot..."

Danny didn't give him a chance to finish that thought. "Yeah. Whatever. Listen, I better get home, I've got to work on my report." He started to walk in the direction that the young couple had disappeared to.

"But Danny, your house is this way!" Punky called to Danny's retreating back as he gestured in the opposite direction.

"I've got something to do first. I'll see you in school tomorrow." Danny dismissed his friend with a wave and continued to follow Keith's trail.

Punky shrugged to himself, turned and began to walk home.

Danny emerged from the south end of the park and looked around for any sign of his brother. The coming darkness was making it a little difficult to see. Then he caught sight of Keith's car. It was parked in a very dark and secluded spot in the parking lot. As a matter of fact, it was in the very spot it had been found later on that fateful day. He began to carefully approach the back of the vehicle, doing his best to keep from being detected.

As he got closer, he saw movement from within. It took him a few moments to realize that Keith and the girl were in the back seat of the vehicle. Danny's heart began to pound as he moved in for a closer look. He had an idea of what was taking place, but couldn't seem to stop himself from trying to get a better look. He looked around for a good vantage point that would keep him from being discovered. His questing eyes settled on nearby flora. He cautiously made his way to it.

He ended up behind a large bush about ten yards behind the parked vehicle. Now that he was closer, he could hear them too; the driver's side window was halfway down. Although Danny could hear the car radio faintly, he realized that he'd have to take extra care to be as quiet as possible. Every molecule in his body screamed at him to look away, to run. But his need to find out just what was happening to his older brother, overrode all the danger signals going off in his head. How could he help Keith if he didn't know for sure what he was up against? There had been so many warning signs in the last couple of weeks...

As he squatted behind the bush and listened to the sounds coming from the back seat of his brother's car, Danny felt a deep flush spreading across his face. His face burned as he realized that the couple was actually having sex. Against his better judgment, he stole a look toward the car to confirm it.

Keith was sitting in the middle of the back seat facing the front of the car. Thankfully, all Danny could actually see of him was the back of his head and shoulders. The girl was sitting astride him, facing Keith and the back of the car. Her eyes were closed but she had a look of total ecstasy on her perfect features, as she moved provocatively on his brother's lap.

To Danny's horror, her eyes suddenly flew open and she stopped abruptly. She smiled wickedly as their eyes met, then continued her gyrations as she glared at Danny with red tinged eyes. Her mouth came open in an ugly snarl, exposing the elongated canine teeth. Danny gasped as she smiled evilly at him just before turning her attention back to her lover.

Making sure that Danny was still watching, she began to move with more urgency. She ran her hands through Keith's dark locks as she leaned in to kiss him. Suddenly, she grabbed a fistful of his hair and roughly turned his head aside, exposing his unprotected throat. She hesitated for a split second, again making eye contact with Danny before sinking her teeth into Keith's flesh.

Horrified, Danny heard Keith groan-either in pain or pleasure-he wasn't sure, but he decided that he had seen enough. He came crashing out of the bushes, his anger overriding his fear.

"HEY!" He shouted, as he raced toward the car. "GET YOUR PAWS OFF OF MY BROTHER, YOU BLOODSUCKING WHORE!"

Keith seemed to come to his senses as Danny's angry voice cut through the near darkness. There was a small scuffle in the back of the car as the two lovers, having been caught in the act, separated and hurriedly righted their clothing. When Keith finally emerged from the car, he was far from happy.

"Danny? Are you freakin' kidding me?" Keith advanced on him, his formally pale skin was now reddened in anger. "Are you actually spying on me? Is that how you get your kicks?"

Danny began to back away. His eyes automatically locking on the small amount of smeared blood on Keith's throat, then he reluctantly swung his gaze to his brother's eyes- they were murderously scarlet with rage. Surely, this was not the brother he knew so well!

"Keith!" Danny held out his hands, trying to stave off what he perceived as an attack. "You gotta get away from her, don't you know what she is?" He was on the verge of hysteria and he fought to keep control of himself.

Keith stopped in his tracks and looked at him as if he had sprouted another head, "What the hell are you talking about?" He asked incredulously.

By this time, the 'girl' had extracted herself from the back seat of the car. She walked up behind Keith and gently took his hand in hers. "What's going on? Keith?"

Danny scowled at her. "Shut up and get away from him or else..."

"Or else what?" Keith put his arm around the girl's waist and pulled her in protectively, as he trembled with anger. His eyes were dark with ire, but they otherwise appeared normal to Danny. What the hell was going on?

Danny's gaze fell on the girl again. He was dismayed to see that she appeared to be chagrined and totally normal looking. Her blue eyes were wide with...what? Apprehension? Fear? What would she have to fear from him? Discovery of her true identity?

Danny swallowed hard. "I'll get a priest or something, I swear!"

With a dumbfounded look on his face, Keith glanced at the beautiful girl at his side and almost laughed "Hey Danny, just because we were...busy, doesn't mean we need to get married." He looked at the beautiful female at his side. "No offense."

She shook her head solemnly. "None taken." Her answer was short and sweet. But her eyes never left Danny's face.

Keith looked back at his brother with an uncomfortable look on his face. "What exactly did you see? Or think you saw?"

"She bit you!" Danny almost screamed at him. Why, oh why was he acting as if nothing horrible had just happened?

Keith laughed nervously. "Danny. It's called a 'hickey.' It's not really a bite. Although some people would call it a 'love bite.'"He grinned devilishly at his lover beside him.

"Yeah, right. Tell me another one, Keith." Danny crossed his arms across his chest in defiance.

Keith lost his smile and threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "I give up! Go on home, will ya? Tell Mom I won't be home for dinner. Adrian and I are going...out tonight." He reached for her left hand and clasped it in his. Slowly he brought it up to his lips and kissed her fingers gently. A total look of infatuation on his face.

Adrian smiled lovingly at Keith, then turned her attention back to Danny.

"Oh, what awful manners we have Keith! I haven't been formally introduced to anyone in your family?" She advanced one step toward Danny and offered her right hand to him. "My name is Adrian Tepesh. I recently moved here from..."

Ignoring her hand, Danny interrupted her, instinctively stepping backwards. "Of course he hasn't introduced you to anyone... how do you introduce a vampire to your mother?"

"Danny!" Keith''s eyes flashed black again as he dropped Adrian's hand in anger and began to advance on him, fists clenched at his sides.

Danny didn't stick around long enough to complete the formal introduction to his brother's new girlfriend.

Back at home, Danny had told his mother that he wasn't hungry and that he was going straight up to bed. To his astonishment, she hardly looked up from her preparations. He didn't get much of a reaction when he told her that Keith wouldn't be home for dinner that night either. Her lack of concern had him totally confused.

Up in his room, he began to skim through his library books, looking for any information that might help him save his brother-if it wasn't already too late. He forcefully pushed that thought from his mind. As he read, he slowly started to realize that he wasn't going to be able to do this by himself; he was going to need help from someone-but who? It would be great to have someone older, someone who he could lean on. Someone that wouldn't freak out on him and would keep a level head. Someone trustworthy.

Mom? Hmmm...somehow he didn't think that would be a good idea. She'd never take him seriously.

What about Laurie? Nah. Somehow, Danny didn't quite see his older sister being of any help in a situation like this. She'd freak out for sure. It didn't take much these days. She just didn't have the stomach for it. Especially if it came down to...no, he wouldn't even think about that.

Punky? Nah, he was too unreliable and flaky. The first sign of trouble, he'd book for sure.

Mr. Kincade! He'd be perfect! Solid as a rock. A grown up that he could count on.

Feeling a little better, Danny took out his notebook and began to gather information. He planned on being well prepared before he even thought about approaching the manager.

By the time his head hit the pillow, he was content with his decision to confide in their trusty manager.