Sorry that this chapter was late. But hey, its summer. And when its summer my mind literally runs away from me. I can focus on NOTHING.

Oh and guess what? I've gotten over *pause for dramatic effect* 1,100 hits to this story! Over 1,100 hits and only 10 reviews. Not complaining just saying, if you take the time to read please leave a review telling me how you think the story is. Pleeease?

Chapter 7

Normal. Normal. Normal. What was there to say about life being normal? It's not like things before were so not normal, they were just, different than what you expected the world to be like. Normal life before didn't include running drugs, selling drugs, being in a gang, getting the crap beaten out of you for no reason, going to funerals more often than going to school, and running away being the good option. But that's what life was. Normal now was running with vampires, and werewolves, and hybrids, oh my! Normal was being happy, feeling safe, and finally coming close to fulfilling a promise made ten years ago. School ended in three months. Three months and I would finally be something my mom would have been proud to call her daughter. And I was getting excited about that. Every time I thought about it I would grab the crucifix from around my neck and send a quick prayer up to my mom and hope she got it.

I almost expected something to go wrong. Every day I expected something horrible to happen, to mess up what I had going. It was just what I had been conditioned to expect since most of the time, if something was going good, something had to come in and ruin it. I still freaked out every time I heard a twig snap expecting Spooky to run out from some hiding space and get me. Every time I freaked Paul would notice, which was incredibly sweet, and he would try and comfort me. Which was so nice, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Which is something I hadn't felt since seventh grade and I had the biggest crush on the quiet little nice kid in my wood shop class. But he left, he wasn't from around here, and he left once he found out how shitty it was in ELA. But of course, not as bad as it was in south central. If you know what I mean.

Oh, I almost forgot. Giggles was preggers again. No wonder her and Embry had been spending so much time together. They've been making babies. Little Sleepy would soon be a big brother. It was exciting. I would be an aunt again. I wonder what it'll be. If it's a boy it'd be cool. He'd grow up surrounded by all these werewolves. Nice guys they were. And if it was a girl, then damn, she would be the most spoiled little chola there ever was.

000

I was bored one day so I decided to talk a walk. I used to do the same type of thing back in ELA. But then instead of walking on the side of the road in the middle of the woods I would walk on the sidewalk. Or the freeway, or the LA river. I hated to call that piece of crap a river. Because it's not. You go see it you'll think the same. I was kept getting a vibe today, something was going to happen, something good, I think. I'm not really sure, my vibes are just that, vibes. Not facts just feelings.

Every now and then a truck or car would pass by. But not many. Who the hell lives in Washington anyway? No one, that's who. Except for vampires and werewolves. It was one of those few days where it wasn't raining. It was still cloudy as hell but it wasn't raining.

Oh, damn. Looks like I thought to soon. Some lightning flashed across the sky and when the thunder followed after the rain started pouring. Isn't that just fantastic? I pulled the hood of my baggy sweater over my head and hugged myself around the middle. If Loki was here she'd be spazing out. Loki was Rascals little sister. And she was deathly afraid of lightning. Thunder she had no problem with. But as soon as that light would flash across the sky she got this look on her face and cry out, it would only last for the time that the lightning flashed. As soon as the light disappeared she'd be fine. It's weird, because even though she knew it was coming she still got scared. No one ever knew why she was afraid of the lightning. Not even our little group growing up. She's had that fear since she was a little kid, since before we ever became friends. And she never told anyone why she was afraid of lightning.

The sound of another truck came by and I saw its headlights around me. I turned towards it. It was pulling off the road. I used my hand to shield my eyes. The truck stopped, I couldn't see who was behind the wheel because of those damned lights. I quickly inhaled. Spooky? No. Stop thinking like that. The door opened and out stepped the driver. For the couple of seconds that it took for whoever it was to step into view I felt like I was having a heart attack. I almost started hyperventilating. I was soaking wet, feeling slightly miserable, I doubt I could hold my own against a vampire. Especially Spooky.

"Hey, Charlie, why are you walking around in the rain? You could get sick y'know." Paul. It was Paul. Ay, gracias a dios. I thought and crossed myself. I took a couple steps forwards so that the headlights weren't shining in my eyes. I looked at Paul and saw him looking at me worriedly. It really did annoying sometimes, him always worrying about me. But I shouldn't really be complaining, some people out there had no one who cared enough about them to worry. So if I complained I would just seem like just another rico that had everything and complained about it.

"Just talking a walk, y'know to think and stuff" I said.

"But why in the rain?" he said looking at me like I was crazy.

"Well it wasn't raining when I started walking" I answered. Then smiled. He smiled back. He looked like a dumbass smiling like that. But I didn't mind. Then he looked like he was struck by some holy idea.

"Uh, do you want a-uh ride or sumin'?" he asked. Porisito was still a bit nervous. I nodded a little and started to make my way towards the other side of the car. I slid into the seat and he took the driver's side. We sat in a slightly awkward silence until he started the car and pointed it on the way towards home.

Something was wrong with me. I don't know what, but it was something. I used to be so full of life, and now…now, I just was quiet, so very quiet, always lost in thought like that one girl from back home, Tortuga. She was always there, physically, but mentally she was lost deep off in her mind. People blamed it on the drugs. She ODed one time and people thought it was because of ODing that she wasn't 'all there'. But I knew, she'd been like that since we were kids. She was smart, real smart, but hated showing it. She always would kinda drift off but say smart things that no one understood. But that was all back home.

Heh, back home. Isn't that a fucking riot?

000

I walked into my math class, late as usual, with my best buddy Paul by my side. We separated and he went to his seat near the window and I took mine in the back of the class. As soon as the teacher had seen how 'close' we had gotten he made sure to separate us. Jack ass.

I get the feeling that if Spooky was around I think he'd want to murder Paul. Spooky had never liked me hanging around with anyone. Especially not other vatos.

Even though I was situated behind him I always caught Paul sneaking glances at me during class, but I didn't mind it makes me feel nice. The teacher was up front showing how to solve some equations I didn't really care much about that, this was my fourth year of math; I didn't really need to pass this class to graduate. And the teacher just gave me that creeper vibe. One of the reason's I was glad I sat way in the back.

I examined the desk in front of me carefully. Carved into were the usual penises, curse words, usual bitching about the teacher. A lot different from my previous math class desk. It was carved with all that and then some gang names, gang signs, and of course scorch marks from when a handful of Latin Kings had set the desk on fire. Think that's too much? Well, this one time a tweaker snuck onto school property and shot and killed our then current principle. Trust me, not the first time that's happened. Our school had become a sort of dumping ground for the oldest, the creepiest, and the most screwed up of the LA school district. There nearly everyone was a super senior, or higher. I always wondered why they never closed the place down; I really thought they would after three kids ODed in the faculty bathroom off some bad 'milk'. But I guess something always kept it open, no idea what.

My throat was aching horribly, I guess I slept cold. I felt nauseas and starving all at the same time. I had already tried to eat a muffin before coming to school but it came up on the drive over. Can you say awkward? I had had my head hanging out the window of Claudia's van. She had let me use it to drive myself to school once I got back the ability to use my leg again. It felt nice driving, but it sucked that I felt like shit right now. I laid my head down and closed my eyes. God, I felt weird. I kinda had that feeling you got after you were out in the cold and then stepped into a warm room. Y'know that sorta just radiated feeling. But it wasn't that cold out, it was raining more often than snowing, and I wasn't all that cold before school. But whatever, I'll just sleep it off and I'll be feeling better by the end math.

One, two Spooky's coming for you.

Three, four keep close what you adore,

Five, six or you'll be on the river styx.

Seven, eight it's more than fate

Nine, ten you'll never see him again.

The bell signaling the end of class came all too soon. It was really a struggle for me to pick myself up from the desk. More so than usual. The stupid dream I had just had kept repeating in my head to the melody of that song from the Friday the 13th movie. Stupid little kids with their stupid high pitched singing voices that make anything they say sound incredibly fucking creepy. And that song! What hell was all about? River styx? Fate?

I grabbed my bag. And headed out in the direction of the door, with an overheated puppy following close behind. After math I had lunch, which was good, since another nap for me. I followed the flow of traffic down the now familiar hallways until the endless stream of people dispersed into the lunchroom. I walked towards the lunch line; I should at least try to keep something down today. I grabbed my usual lunch and piled it onto my tray. My usual which included two slices of pizza, fries, a hamburger, and two bottles of water. I stared down at the food; it looked more unappetizing than usually. But still, a helluva lot better than the food back in ELA.

I sat at the usual table, with the other giants that have migrated there way over here after Paul. And that Kim girl that kept trying to be all 'buddy-buddy' with me. She was nice, I got that vibe from her, but I dunno, she seemed a little too nice. The usual chatter was thrown around the table and usually would have joined in, but I was focusing more on trying to keep this food down. And it was a challenge. I had already forced the pizza and a bottle of water, and I was trying to eat a couple of fries. Maybe I just have some stomach virus. Yeah, that's probably it. I stuck another fry in my mouth and swallowed it.

"Hey" Paul said from my right and nudged me in the side. "You've been awful quite today. You okay?" he said, his voice was full of concern. I got all warm and fuzzy again. I shrugged then tried to eat some more. I grabbed up my burger and took a bite. The burger looked delicious, and I was fucking starving, so I don't know why it was doing this to me. I took another bite. Screw it. I dropped it and sprinted over to the nearest trashcan. I had pushed at least a dozen people out of the way and was cursed at a couple times. Fuck them. I leaned into it and emptied my stomach into it.

"Ugh." I said, and leaned in again to vomit a little more. I felt hot hand on my neck, lifting my hair. I got the warm fuzzy feeling, along with some other not to pleasant feelings. I thought I felt bad before, but now, damn, now I felt like dying. It was never nice to see your lunch in reverse. And even when it was all gone I was still emptying my stomach of anything, and everything. I placed my hands on either sides of the can and lifted myself up. My head pounded, what the hell was wrong with me? I groaned loudly and sank against the closest warm object. Which was Paul. Nice, nice Paul. He was so sweet to me, too sweet. I didn't deserve it. I've done too many bad things; he deserves some nice little girl who still thinks 'drugs are bad, mmmkay?' Whether I deserved it or not I was grateful for the human hot water bottle I had standing next to me. Well, he wasn't really standing next to me, but holding me up.

"Baby, are you okay?" I heard Paul ask. Did I look okay? Honestly, I just puked up everything I've eaten in the last, I dunno three days and you have the nerve to ask if I'm okay. All the noises of the cafeteria suddenly jumped back to life. I heard it, everything. The whispers from across the way, a tray hitting the table to loudly, even my own breathing seemed to deafen me. I put crossed my arms across my stomach. God, it fucking hurts.

All the noises were getting to me; I heard my own blood roaring. God it hurts. Please, Please make it stop. I was whimpering. And that's when it started. It burned, dear lord how it burned. Then I screamed. And I screamed and screamed.

000

I heard beeping, some really annoying beeping. The burning from before had subsided some. But I could still feel it deep down in my gut. I felt a familiar warm hand on mine. I looked and saw that Paul had his head resting on the bed near me. I got the warm and fuzzies again. I had one of those weird close pin type things on my index finger and it had a little tube on it that traveled until it met up with a bunch of other tubes and wires. Was all that crap plugged into me? I looked around, taking in all the beeping monitors and machines. What the hell was wrong with me? I was wearing one of those gross hospital gowns that tied in the back.

I guess my movement had woken the sleeping giant because he had lifted his head so quickly I expected his neck have snapped. We just stared at each other for a second before he gathered me up in his arms and twirled me a little around the room. I smiled, this was nice. The beeping had gone from the slow beeping to one long continuous beep. God it was annoying. The door flung open, flying off its hinges and hitting the floor with a loud bang. What was with all these loud noises?

In the doorway stood the vamp doctor himself. He looked a little panicked but that changed once he saw me. When Paul saw him he placed me gently in the bed and covered me with one of those super thin hospital blankets. But he kept close. I looked up at the Doc expectantly. I was being patient, and I wanted some explaining done. How long had I been out? What was with the burning? Come on, doc. Make my day.

"Well, it appears that the patient is up." He said.

"No shit Sherlock. Now please, explain" I said. Cut the shit I want the truth. Hell, yeah!

"Ah, well of course." He said. "But first a couple of questions so I that I can conclude my findings." Fucking perfect. Conclude my findings, gah! What the hell?

"Okay, ask. Quickly please, before I blow a fucking gasket, human or not I will find a way to inflict pain upon you" I said pleasantly. Patience was not my strongest trait, if you hadn't already guessed that.

"Okay, so were you bitten at all? By a vampire I mean." well, uh, no fucking duh Doc.

"Um, well let's see…" I said placing my finger to my chin in mock thought. I grabbed the collar of my hospital gown yanking it off my shoulder where the scar was. "Does it look like I've been bitten? See that scar there that's from-" I stopped. The scar. It was gone. What. The. The doctor and Paul both stared at the empty shoulder. I yanked the other side off my shoulder, maybe I just forgot which side it was on. That's possible right? Yeah, totally. It wasn't there either. The doctor spoke.

"When you were bitten, did the vampire suck out all your blood? Were you healthy?" he asked.

"Um, yeah he sucked out some blood. And I was healthy, am healthy" I corrected myself. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"You said some, if you could guess about how much?" I thought about that night so long ago. Spooky had been really mad, and didn't some too pleased that I accidently fell asleep and hung up on him.

"Well, not all of it. I 'member he said: 'your years of drug use has made your blood lose all taste'. After he spat some shit onto the ground." I explained. I didn't like going back to that night.

"Well, that answers that. I do believe I have a theory on what's going on." He said.

"Well enlighten us!" Paul screamed at him. He was shaking awful bad. I placed one hand on his arm and turned his face towards me. He relaxed a bit.

"Chill, let the Doc talk." I told him gently. The Doc nodded slowly, as if he understood. I hated when people did that, it annoyed me. Because odds are, they don't understand, they just act like they do to mess with you.

"Well, this is just a theory but I do believe that when you were bitten the circumstances were, let's say less than ideal for turning you then and there." He paused. I glared at him, don't pussy foot it Doc, get the hell on with it.

"Usually when someone is turned they have been drained of blood, because the vampire wishes to feed off them. You weren't. Most of the time they are near death because of said blood loss. I believe that on that night you had a little bit of venom injected into your blood stream. But not enough to turn you. I think that your body has been slowly tried to fight it off, like a virus. So it started to win, which is what, and your body went into shock, which caused you to pass out." He stopped. All the words floated through my mind. Woah, scifi much?

"Haha, very funny Doc' but I don't think this is the time for bullshit." He just looked at me. He wasn't bullshitting me. He was telling the truth. I was turning into one of those monsters. No, oh no. oh hell naw! The Doc seemed to know what I was thinking.

It felt as if my world was falling down around me. Everything was going was not good. I looked to Paul, trying to judge his reaction to all this. His face was blank. He withdrew his hand from mine. The absence seemed to leave my hand freezing. He was shaking violently, his form blurring. My eyes widened. Then narrowed angrily. I saw him run, run out of the door and off in some unknown direction. I heard yelling then crashing sounded like thunder but it was in the house. I wanted to follow, but was too angry to. The beeping of those stupid machines were really starting to piss me off.

"Can we please stop those fucking machines form beeping?" I screamed at the Doc. He nodded slowly and used his supernatural speed to unplug them all.

The beeping had finally stopped, but I wasn't feeling any better. I was angry, angry at Spooky, at the Doc, at Paul, and especially at me. This was all my fault. I wouldn't have come here then Paul would have never imprinted on me. If I had not been a pussy by running away from everything then none of this would have happened! He would be so mad at the fact I was turning into a monster. He wouldn't love me anymore after this. Running away, that's worse than suicide, because then, you still have to live with your shit. I sank to the floor. Poor Paul, I'm sorry I messed up your life.

I felt something slip down my cheeks. I brought a hand up to the strange liquid and placed it on my tongue. It was salty. I felt it again, and wiped away the liquid. I was crying. Crying like a little bitch because my life wasn't go the way I wanted it. Well, newsflash, life never goes right for you, deal with it. Giggles is gunna be so pissed at me. I sniffled then did my best to swallow my sadness, my anger, everything, until I was feeling void of all emotions.

"Doc, I want you to do what you need to, okay?" I told him. He looked at me puzzled.

"I'm afraid I don't understand"

"You said I'm turning. I want you to speed up the job. Finish it up. Complete the transformation, however the fuck you want to put it. I want it over and done with." I said, staring coldly into his eyes.

"Wouldn't you prefer to think about this? Take some time to think through all your options, maybe talk it over with Paul." he told me. I just stared at him. I continued calmly. Doing that, people think I know what I'm talking about.

"Did you see that? He just left. He left me in probably what is the time I need him the most to comfort me. And do you see what he did? He went through that door without even a look back. He doesn't matter right now. All that matters is me. You gotta take care of number one" I said gesturing to my chest with a thumb. "That's what you learn on the streets. I shouldn't have ever forgotten that."

000

Yeah, so review. Sorry if there are any spelling errors or grammer mistakes but my mind is literally focusing more on the neural impulses and all the stuff it has to go through to transmit from cell to cell. Interesting no?

Trans:

Ay, gracias a dios- oh, thank god.