Hey all! If you haven't noticed yet, Alden doesn't use ANY contractions when he talks. Everyone else does, but he doesn't. He is more archaic, older, and so his language reflects that a lot of the time. There are some exceptions, like when he says "shoot" when someone wants to ask him a question. I dunno, I like the mixing of archaic and contemporary, it's what makes him Alden. (If any of you spot Alden using a contraction, please alert me! I will still make author mistakes, it's normal, but I try to find them before I update the story)
CH. 3- Day at the Beach
Her mother waited for her at the bottom of the stairs and hugged her as soon as she came down, "So, how was school?"
"It was fine, mom."
"And you're blood sugar?" Her mother asked.
Camdyn sighed, "That was good too. I tested an 83 not too long ago."
"Good, good. Do you need any help with your homework?"
"Mom, if you don't stop all this babying, I'll never be able to do anything for myself when I grow up and move out!" Camdyn joked with her mother.
"Oh, I hope you never move out. You know you're my baby."
"Yes, mom, I do."
Her mom made dinner while Camdyn stumbled through her vague math notes, most of it was just covered in eyes, or like today's notes, nothing was written at all. Camdyn finally decided she'd have to read the math book, and she eventually got her homework done. Dinner was spinach ravioli, Camdyn's favorite.
A week went by and Alden didn't show up in her room again. He was always at school, but sat in his normal seat during classes, and didn't sit with her and her friends during lunch either. It was only by chance that she was able to run into him (outside of class) on Friday morning.
He was leaning against his locker, people watching, when Camdyn spotted him. He'd spotted her also and stood up to move away.
"No you don't," she mumbled under her breath.
He kept walking faster, but Camdyn threw her book at him. He dodged it, but it gave her enough time to catch up to him.
"Can't show your vampire powers in front of everyone, huh?" she alluded to the speed he had.
He turned around to face her, "I could go so fast I would basically just disappear."
"But you won't. You know you have a whole bunch of fan girls watching who would notice if you did."
"You are too smart for me. Now, if you will excuse me…" Alden turned around, but Camdyn grabbed his shirt sleeve.
"You follow me home, disappear for a week, then kiss me, and now you're avoiding me! I want to know what's going on. What the hell makes you think you can play with me like that?"
Alden sighed, "Do you want to ditch?"
"What?" Camdyn was expecting something different, a poor explanation maybe, but not that.
"Do you want to ditch with me?"
"Will you tell me what's going on?"
He turned around to face her, "Yes."
Ten minutes later they were cruising down the highway in his black Porsche 911 Turbo. He was going more than ninety miles per hour, but then again, so was the rest of the traffic.
"Why is everyone soo slow?" Alden mumbled under his breath.
Camdyn was stiff in her seat, fear written on her face, and her hand gripped the dashboard with white knuckles. "Slow?! Slow?? How fast do you think you're going?!" she yelled at him.
Alden looked over at her and laughed, "Relax. I will not get into a crash or anything."
"Watch the god damned road, idiot!!"
"Camdyn, do you really thing I would get into a crash?" He had been staring at her since he'd first looked at her.
"At the rate you're going, I'll be dead in ten seconds! Slow down!" Camdyn hissed at him.
"Oh, alright." Alden pressed on the brake and tried to slow down, but traffic around him kept going faster, and he actually had to speed up to ninety again. He didn't seem too sad about it, either.
Suddenly the car turned and Camdyn screamed, but she felt pretty stupid when she found out it was just Alden getting off the interstate. He laughed at her fright, but slowed down to eighty to appease her. They went down a few side roads, and Alden eventually turned off to park.
The scene before her was wonderful. The sun was shining and waves were washing up against the beach. There was almost no one around, only a mother and her daughter playing in the sand far off to the right. Camdyn could smell the salt and the sand in the air, and in a stupor, she opened her door. She had luckily worn flip-flops and her favorite orange skirt and a white blouse for the warm day, but she hadn't thought she'd go to the beach.
Then she remembered all the vampire stories and looked around for Alden. He stood right behind her, under the glare of the sun with a pair of sexy sun glasses on.
"Why aren't you burning up, or whatever it is you vampires do?" Camdyn asked him.
Alden threw his head back and laughed.
"What's so funny?" Camdyn asked.
"It is just soo funny how you humans believed those stories. Vampires made them up centuries ago, and yet you all still think they are true."
"What are you talking about?"
Alden took Camdyn's hand and led her down to the beach. He'd gotten a basket and a large la out of the back of his car before they'd set out, almost as if he knew they'd end up here. He pulled a flannel blanket out of the basket and laid it out. He they proceeded to open the umbrella and shove it into the sand so they had shade. He sat down under the umbrella and pulled Camdyn down beside him.
"Shall I start at the beginning?" Alden asked.
"Yes, that would help immensely," Camdyn said, exasperated.
"Many, many centuries ago, vampires came into existence. No one knows how or exactly when, but they were still new vampires, and they went on a rampage for blood. They killed thousands of people, and made even more. It was war on earth. So, the Theron were made…"
Camdyn interrupted, "You called me a little Therona, back in my room…"
Alden pressed his cold finger against her lips, "Yes, I did. Theron means hunter in Latin, therefore, a Therona is a female hunter. Their language, at the time, was more basic, and not as civilized, so the name did not come around for many more centuries, but that is getting off the point. The Theron's job was to find ways to exterminate these vampires, and they did a great job… for a while. The vampires grew up; they got smarter, more able to control the blood lust.
"A group of vampires were made, to formulate order among the vampires, and peace with the Theron. That also worked quite well, but again, only for a while. Vampires began to rebel against the group, or the Farvardin, as they were called, and massacres happened again. The Theron stepped up and again tried to exterminate the vampires, but the older ones went into hiding.
"Certain things seemed to work at repelling vampires: light, garlic," he laughed before he said the next one, "wooden stakes. The truth is that garlic worked because a young vampire's senses are heightened, so just about anything that smelled strongly was most terrible to smell. Wooden stakes, ha! These worked also because they were great at making a vampire lose its blood, so when the sun came up, the blood burned away.
"See," he continued, "It is only the blood that burns. Everything else, well, it is just flesh. With a young vampire, the blood is closer to the skin, and is easier to burn, so they stayed out of the sun. This is where you humans get the 'they burn in the sun' idea."
"So, that stuff just works on young ones? Then you're not young." Camdyn looked at him with a quirk in her brow.
Alden laughed, "No, I am not. But I am not old by vampire standards either."
"How old are you?" Camdyn asked.
"Oh, about five hundred years old. I do not keep track anymore, but if you want to know exactly, I was born in 1453, in France, to a poor farmer. I was made into a vampire in 1471, when I was 18 years old. I am old enough to go out into the sun, but my eyes," he tapped his glasses, "still need to be protected.
"Anyway, the older vampires thought it best to let the Theron believe that these tactics worked on all vampires, and so life went on quite well after that. There were, of course, a few vampires who got carried away, and the Theron would come to kill them. If they were able to spill a lot of the vampire's blood and then expose it to the sun, they could kill it, but most escaped before anything happened. They laid low and learned their lesson.
"Well, after a few more centuries, the older vampires wanted to make new vampires, but they knew the blood lust they would have had. So, new vampires were rarely created, and when they were, they were cautious. Of course some created them and set them loose, and then the Theron showed up, but most were pretty careful. I was made by one of these newer vampires. He was old by the time he made me, but I guess I can say I am part of the third generation," Alden chuckled. "My teacher took great care to teach me things: safety, how to make it look like a robbery when I took a victim, and other things I do not care to dwell on."
"Is that what you meant when you said you could kill me and make it look like something had happened?" Camdyn asked.
Alden sighed, "Yes."
Camdyn lay her hand on his arm, "Well, let's not dwell on that anymore. Let's go play in the water, shall we?"
Camdyn was up off the flannel blanket, and took off for the water, leaving her flip-flops behind. The first wave met her feet with a cold shock, but it felt good against the warm day. When she got out far enough, she dived into wave after wave, soaking her from head to toe. She laughed as a topless Alden joined her and they splashed in the waves together. He picked her up and kissed her as a wave splashed over them.
As lunch time got closer, more people showed up, and Camdyn got just a little bit apprehensive.
"What is wrong?" Alden asked.
Camdyn smiled as his breath tickled her ear, "I need to eat something. You know, to keep my blood sugar up. And I doubt you've brought anything." A look crossed Alden's face and was gone before Camdyn could figure out what it was, "I don't mean to be a bother, really."
"No, no. You are no bother," he bent down and softly kissed her. "Here, I know just the place to go."
Alden quickly cleaned up the blanket and umbrella, and both of them headed for the car.