Chapter Six

Fool Me Twice

Kyler came to pick me up friday afternoon. If you haven't noticed, I haven't gotten my driver's license yet. I've been reading the book plenty enough, but I still havent gotten around to taking the test myself. But once I do, I will dedicate myself to become a halfway decent driver. If only I wasn't half-scared of getting in a car wreck and dying. Not that you can avoid it because anyone can wreck a car. Kyler nearly wrecked her car with me in it about five times now. And when she drove into my driveway, she forgot to not run over our trash bin. Her response to the accident... 'oops'.

I waved my dad off, seeing as he was more worried about this than he had been when I was going to the concert. It can be annoying sometimes, but he didn't want me to end up living in a trailor like we are now. Not that I was going to go fetch myself a nice big mansion when I'm rich. Once I figure out how I'm going to be rich. It's all the same. But anyways, before I knew it, Kyler was peeling out of the trailor park in a speed used just to scare my dad.

"I told my parents we went to see a movie and since they'll be asleep before any movie is finished, I told Mandy to tell your dad that we're asleep if he calls anytime after three hours," Kyler said to ease my mind of being caught. And if anything else was needed, I could just tell him that our car broke down on our way back to Kyler's house. And say that Mandy is stupid and thought we were in the house asleep the whole time. So we were ultimately safe.

Meanwhile, I was pulling my hair up to where only the top half of my hair was pulled up to a ponytail, and I brushed some of my bangs out of the ponytail to cover my forehead. Being my speciality, I just applied eyeliner, adding it to the top of my eyes as well, and applied lip gloss. Now that it was night, I didn't have to wear a jacket, so I pulled it off to show my black babydoll t-shirt I never wear because it's black. I kept to regular jeans, though, and my regular skater shoes. I also had on a lot of jewelry my friends had got me. I was officially as ready for a party as I was going to get.

Once I was done, Kyler said, "Take the wheel." And I was stuck controlling which way the car was going while she pulled half her hair up almost lazily with a skull pin. She had on a black, spike-styled skirt that had chains linked throughout them, along with neon purple leggings that went halfway below her knees before stopping. Her tank top was black with white letters that said "Fuck You, Bitch". Then she had purple and black striped gloves that pulled all the way up to her elbows and bared her fingers that had three different skull and spike rings. She also had thick, black, army-like boots with metal skull-zippers on the sides. There were buckles in random spots on the boots that seem to have no other purpose except style. Kyler finished the look with eyeliner, purple eyeshadow, lipgloss, black nose ring, and spiked snake bites. She looked awesome.

After she was done with her hair, she took ahold of the wheel and turned onto a road that seemed nearly hidden in a spread of trees. It was dirt road from there, leading further into the woods. Almost as if the party were in a secret place. And suddenly the trees cleared to a large driveway that led to a large, two story house. There were cars parked outside of it in massive ammounts, and so many people that the party was both inside and out. Kyler didn't want to park all the way out away from the party, so she slowly drove as close as she could to the house and stopped in the middle of the driveway just to piss off anybody who tried to drive through. She turned off the car, and I stepped outside of it to nearly get plowed down by some random, drunk guys.

I followed around the car to stand next to Kyler, who breathed in the air with pleasure. "The smell of alcohol, weed, and sex... this is home," Kyler said wistfully. I consider it sewage, but whatever makes people happy. "I'm going to go find myself a drink. You go mingle." She started to walk away but turned around to face me. "And remember, get drunk. Relax. This is your vacation from near death and stress." And she was off into the crowd.

I wasn't sure what music was playing. People had their cars on, and all sorts of songs were playing at the same time. Plus I was too far away from the house to hear what was going on in there. So I stood in one spot for a moment, looking around at all the people just hollering and having a good time with themselves. But then I figured this wasn't going to get me anywhere, so I started trudging my way towards the house. I had to be careful, though, because these people were out of their minds and I was invisible at the time. So I moved slowly, pushing the disgustingly stinky people who ran into me out of my way.

And then D.J. was in front of me. "Hey, Hail," D.J. greeted me happily. But before I could say anything, Tony appeared next to D.J. laughing about something going on in the house. He had a nice bruise on his cheek from Kyler, and I had to smirk at that. And D.J. turned to me again and said, "Hey, you stay right here. I got something for you. I'll be right back." And he followed Tony towards the house. I scoffed. There's no way I'm just going to stay in one spot for some guy who is probably going to forget exactly where this spot is anyways. I continued towards the house.

It was like being in a different world. At some point, some guy shoved a cup into my hand, and I sniffed it before dropping it to the ground in disgust. There was no way I was going to drink something that smelled like acid. And as I walked up the stoned steps to the entrance of the house, someone else shoved a glass into my hand. I smiled a completely fake and slightly grimacing smile in thanks, and dumped the drink into a decorating plant before putting the cup on the plant's branch. I started for the door, which was closed shut and looked occupied by a crowd of people who were too drunk to remember how to open a door. I pushed past them, holding my arms up to protect my head in case someone spilled something on me. It was like a personal boundary feild type of thing. I was just praying that nobody turned to me and barfed their guts all over me. That would be gross.

I sighed with relief when I reached the door. I could hear extremely loud music from the inside and a smash of glass breaking. I reached for the doorknob with my right hand, but just before I could grab it, a hand wrapped around it. A jolt of shock and dread went throughout me as my hand was pulled away from the door. I turned to see his electric blue eyes no longer peircing through me, but looking at me with confusion. It was definitely him, with bleached blonde hair, blue eyes, and the snake bites. He wasn't showing his fangs and didn't seem to be about to bite me again. He just pulled my hand to him and looked at the back of it. He didn't do anything at first, but then he reached with his other hand and traced the two scars on the back of my hand. Then he twisted it over and touched the other two holes on my wrist. He held his finger there for a moment, as if he was feeling my pulse.

I knew pulling away wouldn't help me with anything, and I wanted to say something.. anything.. but I seriously couldn't think of anything to say. And before I could, he lowered my hand and moved closer to me. He said into my ear, "Don't say anything. Just come with me." The voice seemed to continue at the end and travel into my brain, attaching to my thoughts in a way that made me think of no other thing except obeying his orders. So when he opened the door, still gripping onto my scarred wrist, and pulled me through the house, I didn't even think about yelling for help or trying to run away from my doom. He walked with ease, as though everyone moved out of his way instead of him having to push through them. Soon we were through the entrance room, and he pulled me into another room full of people. It wasn't long before it clicked that he was heading for the stairs.

Before he reached the stairs, someone grabbed my left arm, and tapped on the guy's back almost angrily. I internally sighed with relief when I turned to see Kyler glaring at the guy and gripping my arm with a determined aura. The vampire turned around to look at who was stalling him, his eyes automatically peircing annoyance at Kyler, but even though she was the only other person who knew what he was, she didn't let go of me.

"Excuse me, asshole, but she's not for sale," Kyler said threatenly. The vampire stood to his height and glowered down at Kyler, but she glared back.

"You would be wise to let her go," he growled in such an inhuman way that it sent chills of fear across my skin.

"I'm not going to let her go, and I would be wise not to," Kyler snarled back, "Don't think that just because you're some vampire, you're scary. In fact, I think you're nothing but a coward and I'm not going to let you hurt my best friend again, dickface." And she shoved his chest. He didn't budge at all from his spot.

Instead, he fully turned around, still clutching my right wrist with his left hand. He moved just behind me, and pulled his left arm over my head, never letting go of my wrist, so that he had his arm around me almost in a claiming way. He lowered his head to just beside mine, smiling innocently. "I never hurt her, nor would I ever. Right, Hailence?" And I felt his breath just on my right earlobe. Something told me to lie to Kyler. Completely lie. So I did.

"He's not really a vampire, Kyler. I just said that so you'd think I was cooler, seeing as I don't seem as cool as you and the other guys. It really was just some sort of diseased animal that bit me. I just didn't think I'd be seeing him again, so I figured I'd try to creep you out, but it was just a joke," I lied convincingly, slightly smiling and ducking my head in embarrassment about admitting to the lie. Kyler just stared at me in confusion, and with a small hurt look in her expression. The vampire nuzzled my neck a little, and I added quickly, "So could you let go? I'd really like to talk to him in peace."

Kyler scoffed, "Oh, and if you know him so well, what's his name?"

I jerked my arm out her grip roughly, "Go away, you stupid bitch." It was my voice, but it was dark and uttered in such a way that reminded me of the vampire himself. Plus I'd never cuss unless I broke a bone or something, but it was enough to hurt Kyler. And she just backed up before stomping away. I could feel him smiling into my neck, obviously pleased with the result before he started back towards the stairs.

I followed him up the stairs, and down a hall before he finally stopped at a door. He opened it confidently, and ordered to the couple making out on the bed, "Get out." It was such an threatening order that they stumbled on their way out, as though dazed. But once they exited, he pulled me in and shut the door, locking it shut behind us. The dread of what might happen was starting to sink in real good at this point, and I wished I never had come here. It was a bad idea anyways. What was I thinking?

The vampire turned around, and gripped my face by the chin, his fingers digging into my cheek. First he stared at my eyes before letting go and pointing at the lamp. "Look into that light," he ordered, and I quickly looked at the light bulb. It was irritating, but it must have satisfied whatever he wanted to know because he grabbed my face again. This time he digged his fingers in further so that I opened my mouth in pain, and he pulled up my lips to look at my teeth. He ran his finger over my top canines, which had grown merely a bit sharper than they had been but not into fangs, and let go of my face. He grabbed my hands, rubbing his thumbs against my filed nails, and once again stared at the bites he had left himself. They had healed extremely fast, no longer being scabbed over like they were suppose to be, but just being two bite scars that looked as if they had been left months ago. He let go of my hands and pointed at the bed.

I sighed, giving up, and sat down on the edge of the bed before just laying back in defeat. I guess this was as interesting a death as I was ever going to hope for. I was just a bit sad that I had practically lied to my dad in every possible way. The vampire sat down on the bed next to me, laying back himself instead of attacking me like I had expecting. Maybe he was just stalling to creep me out.

"You... are suppose to be dead," he stated, looking over at me. I turned my head to look at him. "I drained you until your heart was struggling just to beat it's last bit of life, so you were suppose to have died not two minutes after I left you against that concert building. Why aren't you dead?" I felt a sudden inner freedom, as if whatever spell he had that kept me quiet had been lifted just for conversation.

"I did die. Twice," I answered shakily, "But that fluttering wasn't my heart's struggle for its last beat, it was my blood pressure acting up." He frowned at that information, not quite understand. "See, you may know my name, but apparently you didn't take the time to notice that I have high blood pressure. My heart would flutter like that for yelling at someone much less being drained."

And he smiled in realization. "So you tricked me," he stated in amusement. "You even started to struggle breathing. Was that just an act so I'd leave you alone?"

"No, that was asthma," I corrected, and he seemed even more amused by it.

His blue eyes stared at me with interest, and he asked, "So what was it like to die twice?"

I shrugged the best I could. "I don't remember. I kind of blacked out after I got to the hospital."

"And now what do you think? Now that your eyes are dialated continuously so that light hurts them, and the heightened senses? Did you think you were one of us," he asked curiously.

"Well, I didn't think I was a vampire because of some missing assets, but I knew that I was affected. But I think that it was for the better. I don't have diabetes anymore," I responded truthfully. "But the light thing is annoying."

"I'll have to agree to that, but at least you could still walk in the sunlight." I took notice to the past tense version of me being able to walk into the sunlight, and the dread sunk my heart.

"Why can't you just leave me alone? So I survived, is that so bad?," I asked, pleading.

His amusement was cleared from his expression, and now it was replaced with a blank look. He sat up, and I felt the familiar feeling of being held down on the inside, not allowing me to struggle or plead. He bent over me, lowering his lips to my left ear. "Because you know about us, and that's not allowed. Which means your friend is going to have to go as well. I am sorry, though, this time I won't let your heart fool me." And he bit into my neck. I clutched the blankets in pain, once again feeling the wave of paralysis and exhaustion. This time I could actually utter a half-sob before it was cut off. I tried to think; tried to wrap my mind around this. But this time it would be finished. He wouldn't just wait until I was near dead and leave me to die, he was going to finish it completely so that even with all the people here, none of them could save me like D.J. had.

Suddenly, someone busted through the door and spilled to the floor. The vampire lifted his head, and I felt a sudden relief from the release. "You son of a bitch," I heard Kyler growl, and she lunged at him with a bat she had found. She got a good wack of the back of his head, but it didn't seem to bother him much. He stood up, a growl of utter dislike forming from him.

I took in deep breaths before holding it to push myself over onto my stomach. I looked up at the bedside table to see a phone, and started crawling for it. Every move I made was sluggish and felt as though I had two hundred pounds of weight on each limb, head included. But I still could see and hear pretty well, probably from being enhanced the last time I was bitten. And I heard a crash against the wall behind me, followed by a scream from Kyler that was choked off suddenly with a crack. My head snapped around in disbelief, and Kyler indeed was on the ground against the wall, the bones of her neck oddly pressing against the inside of her skin as though not belonging within the neck.

Before I could do anything, he started walking towards me. I pushed myself to crawl faster across the bed towards the phone, but I realized there was no possible way in Hell that I could get to it in time. So I screamed, "No! NO! NO! SOMEONE HELP! HE--" I found talking hard when a hand wrapped around my bleeding neck, choking off any oxygen I could get. Nobody had even heard me, nor had anyone noticed the door even being broken down. The party was continuing. And I was shoved over onto my back with his face glaring at my soul just above my face.

"You... don't make another noise. You're coming with me," He growled angrily. And as though my voicebox had been cut out, I found I couldn't make a noise when he let go of my throat. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me to my feet. The world twisted, and I reached up to my neck, which was still bleeding with amazing velocity. He pulled my hand away, and I had to go through an uncomfortable moment of his tongue brushing that metal ball over the bite. Just like that, the bleeding stopped. And before I could touch it to see if he left any disgusting saliva trail like a dog, he was pulling me out of the room and down the stairs.

This time, the mass of people that moved out of the way without their own accord as he rushed me through the room was highly noticeable than it had been last time. And we almost made it to the front door without interruption, but then someone grabbed my left shoulder. "Hey, Hail, where'd you go? I said I had something for you," I heard D.J. ask. And he pulled away his hand, looking at it in confusion. The blood from the bite had been left on my shoulder, and D.J. had stuck his hand right in it. I was hoping, praying that he would yell for help. I needed his help. He was my only hope. "What... why are you... is that blood?"

The vampire breathed into my ear, and before I could give some sort of warning that I was in trouble, I said dully, "Nosebleeds. They get pretty bad sometimes."

Then the vampire snapped, "She isn't interested in you, dickhead. So go listen to your music and cut yourself." He grabbed my face, turned it toward him, and pressed his lips over mine. A wave of disgustion pulsed from my stomach, but something in my head was making sure I made it look believable. And he smirked arrogantly at D.J. before he started pulling me out the front door. I looked back to see D.J. look at something in his hand with a hurt expression, but nothing could be done at the time to fix that. I was being pulled through the crowds of people in the driveway, and they were thinning out the further we went out. Soon there were no other people except the ones in their cars or behind the trees.

He opened the back of a black car, and shoved me in. I landed on the seat on my stomach, and automatically struggled to open the opposite door so that I could escape. He got in on top of me, and pulled me over on my back, grabbing my wrists and pressing my hands into my stomach. "Shall we continue," he asked sarcastically. And he bent his head down to open the already made bite, but I turned my head sharply. "Fine." For a second I was hoping that was him giving up, but he just bit down on my right neck instead. Tears started burning my eyes, blurring my vision, and I tried to move my hands but he still had ahold of my wrists. I kicked out, but my feet collided with nothing. I tried to scream, but the only thing that came were gasps of air. So I stopped moving and breathing completely, deciding to try and die quickly.

In an almost slow movement, I turned my head until it rested against the side of his. I could feel his tense jaw, and the sudden stop of drawing my blood into his mouth. For some reason, he lifted his head to look at me with confusion. And then he connected his lips over mine, leaving the leftover blood from my neck to join between us. I felt nauseated, wanting to shove him off and stab him until he was peices of vampire dust on the ground. And I felt a sting on my lip, followed by a tickle of thick liquid starting to run down the sides of my mouth. I could taste the blood that had gotten into my mouth. But he didn't stay there long. As though he had to struggle to force himself away, he lingered before tracing his lip over the cut he left on my bottom lip. Then he went back to my neck, adding fresh pain as he bit down more firmly than he had before. I didn't move my mouth open in fear of choking on my own blood as I took a deep breath of pain.

It didn't last long. Before my heart had even started to flutter, I heard a growl of frustration from him as he removed his lips from my neck once again. He licked over the wound roughly, and shoved himself out of the car. He shut the door behind him, moving around to the driver's seat. I wasn't dead, but I wasn't alive either. Not that I was a vampire. It was just that I tried to move my hand to get out, and got no bigger a response than a weak twitch. I opened my mouth weakly, and struggled to swallow my own blood instead of choking on it. I still breathed some of it in before what blood had been left on my lips were no longer flowing into my mouth, and had enough strength to cough weakly.

The car started. He wasn't killing me here... but I was wondering why not. He had the chance, so why stop? Is there something in vampire's minds that makes them think we thoroughly enjoy this? Newsflash: I prefer to be dead.