Chapter 2:
Jae woke up in a pair of cold arms. She let out a long sigh and shuddered. She bent her knees towards her chin to warm herself up. A soothing hand started to rub circles into the middle of her back. Fighting off the fog of sleep, she straightened her back, stretched her muscles and sat up. Realizing whose hand was on her back she flew up and ran into the forest. She kept running, pushing herself forward despite how tired she was. Too terrified to turn around, she didn't notice Roland's quick, silent approach. He scooped her up and carried her back to the clearing.
"I'll only put you down if you promise you won't run off again. Okay?"
Jae nodded her head; she was still too tired to make any noise. Roland gently placed her on the ground.
"Are you alright?" Roland paused for a minute, "Is there anything I could get you? A glass of water, maybe?"
Jae shook her head and looked up at him. Her eyes were wide with fear.
"I'm not going to hurt you. Please, just trust me." He wanted to touch her, just to make her trust him until she got to know him, but he stopped himself. Jae started to relax, letting her shoulders drop and her legs spread out. Her eyes, though, were still wide as she looked up at Roland, who was still standing. Roland lowered himself to the ground slowly, as not to scare her, so that they would be on the same level.
Jae let out a nervous laugh, "Um, what's your name, again?" The laughter stopped abruptly so she could judge Roland's reaction.
"It's Roland," he smiled to let her know that he wasn't upset.
Jae started to loosen up now. Her eyes, instead of darting around wildly, were fixed on his face. "Um, about last night…Sorry about that. And thank you." she said with a smile.
"It's fine. It was no problem," he responded, a smile growing on his lips as well.
"So…," Jae trailed off, not knowing where to go with the conversation.
"Well, why don't we get the Q&A out of the way?" Roland proposed.
Jae paused, unsure, "Are you really a vampire?" she whispered, leaning towards him so she could be heard.
"Mm hmm. Yes and no. I am, but my kind doesn't follow all the myths that you've heard," Roland replied confidently.
"Are my friends okay? What happened to them last night?" Jae asked as her heart rate accelerated because of her anxiousness.
"They're fine. Relax. I thought that you would like it better if your friends were watching you, rather than some random stranger," Roland looked ashamed again.
"But what happened?" Jae asked, more curious than upset.
"What do you mean?" Roland asked, avoiding the question.
"Why did I go into the forest? And why were my friends there?" Jae said, gaining confidence.
"Your friends went into the forest to look for you because you didn't meet them for dinner, like you had planned. Because your friends were there, I used them to watch over you while I was gone," Roland explained.
"How did you do it, though?" Jae asked, intrigued.
"It's something that I've always been able to do. I just," Roland paused, not sure if he should continue. Jae looked at him expectantly, "put my hand on their shoulder, like this," he placed his hand on Jae's right shoulder gently, "and think about what I want to happen."
Jae let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding and closed her eyes blissfully. A warm smile spread across her face while Roland's hand rested on her shoulder. He slowly removed his hand and Jae's eyes opened.
"Wow," she whispered, and quietly laughed.
Roland smiled, knowing that she was starting to warm up to him.
"So, you never answered my first question." Jae trailed off suggestively. Roland didn't take the hint, "Why did I go into the forest in the first place?"
"Oh. That," Roland looked down, clearly not wanting to talk about it. "I wanted to talk to you somewhere private."
"But how?" Jae asked, getting frustrated by all of his beating around the bush. Roland still looked silently at the forest floor. "How?" Jae repeated louder this time.
"I heard you! I'm just trying to figure out the best way to answer that question," Roland said never letting his eyes wander from the spot he was focusing on the ground. "It's sort of the same way that I showed you before. But it's different. It's," he paused, unsure of how to continue, "I don't know how to explain it, but it's really the same idea as what I said before."
"I think I understand. Kind of," Jae stopped to prepare herself for the next topic, "Do you drink blood?"
Roland laughed at this. He stopped himself abruptly when he saw the horror played out on Jae's face. "Yes, I do. But, I don't kill people if that's what your thinking," Roland stated. Jae still looked horrified. Roland tried to figure out what was troubling her. "I don't change them into vampires, either," Roland said, hoping that would satisfy her. She still looked worried. "What's wrong? You look stressed," he stated leaning closer to her.
"If you don't kill them, than what happens?" Jae asked, her eyes were wide again. Roland stretched out his hand to calm her, but she crawled away from it on her hands and knees.
"I just drink enough to survive, and then I let them go. They're fine afterwards. They don't even remember anything," Roland said soothingly.
"Okay," Jae responded shakily.
"What's wrong?" Roland asked. Jae still looked panicky.
"Am I here just so you can drink?" Jae asked quietly.
"You think I'd go to all this trouble, just so I could drink you? You think I'd have your friend carry you all the way here, just so I could drink you? You think I'd lull you into this forest, just so I could drink you?" Roland was nearly screaming now. He stood up, "You think I'd do all that, just so I could drink you?" Roland walked towards where Jae was cowering. "Do you?" Roland bent down and stuck his face right near Jae's menacingly.
"I don't know," Jae moaned. She pulled her knees into her chest, put her head into her arms, and started crying. "I don't know, I don't know. I don't know anything about you or anything!" she wailed, "Don't be mad at me! Don't hurt me, please!" She moved her arms to cover her head as best as she could.
Roland took a deep breath to calm himself. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lost my temper. You don't know any better. That's just a sore spot with me," he said gently. "Please don't cry. It breaks my heart," he said, sadness in his voice. Jae kept crying. Roland went down on his knees and inched closer to her. Jae looked up a little and moved away from Roland quickly. "I won't hurt you. Please don't be afraid," he pleaded.
Jae mumbled something into herself. "What did you say?" Roland asked anxiously.
"Promise?" she repeated louder.
"Of course," Roland said forcefully.
"Pinky swear," Jae said and held out her pinky.
"Pinky swear," Roland agreed and softly wrapped his pinky around hers and shook it up and down once before releasing it.
Jae lifted her head so that her chin was on her knees. She set her eyes on Roland. "So, what rumors about vampires ARE true?" she raised her eyebrows in a way to let him know that all was forgiven.
"Well," Roland smiled. He was much more comfortable with this topic, "We drink blood, we are super fast, super strong, and we can go out in the sunlight." He stopped and thought and tried to think if there was anything he had forgotten, "Oh. And, all vampires can do the shoulder type things that we talked about before."
"Really?" Jae asked. Roland nodded. "How strong are you?"
"This strong," Roland responded. He walked over to a nearby tree and ripped off a branch the size of Jae's legs put together.
"Whoa," Jae paused in awe, "How fast are you?"
So quickly that Jae couldn't even see his movements, Roland appeared in front of her. "That fast," Roland said with a smile.
"Wow." Jae stayed silent for a long time, staring off into space.
After a while Roland started to worry. "Jae?" There was no response. "Jae?" he repeated a little louder. "Jae?" he said again.
"Yes?" Jae responded, looking a little dazed.
"Are you okay? You seem a little spacey," Roland commented.
"Yeah, it's just a lot to take in," Jae muttered.
"Would you like me to take you home?" he offered.
"I don't know where home is anymore," Jae stated, on the verge of tears again.
"It's okay. Do you want to go over to a friend's house? Or, you could come home with me."
"I'll go call Gaia," Jae started walking out of the clearing in the direction she thought she had come. She walked for a while feeling like someone was following her. "If you're going to follow me you might as well just walk with me," Jae called out loudly.
"Alright," Roland said suddenly. He came up behind her shockingly fast.
Jae let out a short gasp, but quickly made her face become neutral. She started walking, again, in silence.
After a short amount of time Roland broke the silence, "How did you know I was following you?"
"You know that feeling you get when someone's following you?" Jae paused to see if Roland was following her train of thought. He nodded, "Yeah, well I just guessed it was you," Jae finished.
They stayed in silence for a while until Roland, once again, broke the silence, "It's a long walk. I could carry you, if you want."
"No it's fine. It can't be that long. These woods aren't that big," Jae responded.
Roland tried again, "You did walk a long way to get to the clearing, if you remember."
Jae's temper flared at this. "I didn't walk!" she spat, "I was carried against my will!" She stopped walking to glare at Roland.
"Sorry," he mumbled, looking ashamed.
"What ever," Jae said, clearly still upset, and continued walking.
The two of them emerged from the forest approximately half an hour later. They hadn't talked for the rest of the way there.
Jae pulled a quarter out of her front pocket and walked over to the pay phone. She dialed the familiar number quickly, pulling the phone up to her ear.
"Gaia, can I spend the night at your place?" Jae said immediately into the phone.
"Not tonight. My mom's freaking out because I didn't come home when I said I would last week," Gaia said slightly annoyed, slightly apologetic.
"It's fine. It's what ever. I'll just call Romane or someone," Jae said, not at all upset.
"'Kay, talk to you later," Gaia said happily.
"Bye," Jae said right before she hung up the phone. She turned to Roland, "Well, I have no place to stay tonight," Jae said, annoyed. She walked over and sat down on the empty bench by the bus station. Roland took two large steps towards her and sat down very close to her. Shocked by the closeness Jae stood up and started pacing and running her hand through her hair.
"Would you like to spend the night with me?" Roland offered quietly as he watched her walk back and forth quickly.
"Oh God. Oh God," Jae muttered to herself, closing her eyes briefly.
"Would you like to spend the night with me?" Roland repeated louder.
"What?" Jae's eyes shot open and flashed to Roland, who was now standing directly in front of her, blocking her path.
"Would you," he paused to be sure she was listening, "like to," he paused again, "spend the night with me?" he finished.
"Um," Jae said and started pacing again. "I don't know. You're still kind of a stranger."
"I understand that, but you don't seem to have many other options," Roland offered.
"Fine. Whatever. How bad could it be?" Jae admitted and tuned to face him, "So let's get going. It's getting dark."
"Alright. Follow me," Roland said and started walking towards the park again. Jae followed silently thinking he was going to change course soon. But, when he walked into the trees, she stopped dead in her tracks. "Aren't you coming?" Roland asked walking back to where she was standing.
"Why are we going into the park?" Jae asked suspiciously.
"I was going to run you to my house. Okay?" Roland eyed her playfully.
"Yeah, I guess," Jae said nonchalantly. She walked past him and kept going into the forest.
Roland waited until she was far enough into the trees that no one would see her, he looked behind him to make sure no one was around, and then he took off at full speed into the forest. He came up behind her and scooped her up into his arms without pausing for a moment. She let out a brief shriek and clung to his jacket with a tight grip.
"It's okay. I'm not going to drop you. Relax," Roland said, looking down at her and smiling. Her grip loosened a bit and she closed her eyes and settled into him. "You can go to sleep if you want. It's been a long day," Roland offered, pulling her closer to him.
"No. I'm okay," Jae said, her eyes remaining closed.
"You look tired, though," Roland reasoned.
"I said I'm fine," Jae spat through her teeth her eyes opening and glaring at Roland.
"Alright, alright. Sorry," he said looking away. Jae continued to stare up at his face. "What?" Roland asked, laughing slightly.
"Nothing," Jae responded. She looked down at her hands and blushed.
"What?" Roland asked again, laughing even harder.
"Nothing," Jae replied quieter, her face becoming even redder. Roland simply continued to laugh, not pursuing the issue any farther, much to Jae's relief.