First of all I want to apologize! I AM SORRY Dx
I know it's been forever since I updated but first it was exams week, then this new semester starterted (school's kicking my butt, but I'm ok) then the computer kept on spazzing on me!
And then there's also that little detail of me having to type with one hand (that seriously takes double the amount of time) because I broke my left wrist... Everyone knows I have the grace of a gazelle, but even the gazelles have their clumsy moments ;)
I was hoping I had the excuse of a very long chapter that looked like it "obviously" took a long time to write, but would've meant this thing wouldn't be finished or it would've most likely end up on a cliff hanger.
And despite what all my friends say... I am NOT that evil xD
Enough excuses, bon apetit!
Chapter 3: Lesson Number One. If I tell you to run, you run.
The next day Steve let me sleep as much as humanly possible. I woke up past 3 in the afternoon.
"Rise and shine…" –Steve cooed, handing me a tray full of McDonald's. It was just what I liked, a crispy chicken classic combo.
"Whoa, Thanks…" –I said, my voice still husky from so much sleeping.
"Are you ready for today? I don't have any plans. I got to escape from my duties as a Lord for the day. Let's hope they don't find me any time soon… So what do you wanna do Shiloh? –He asked smiling.
"I don't know… I guess we have a long day, you can teach me your ways, or take me to a club, I've never been in one" I say while munching on my sandwich.
"Never been to a club?" –He asked surprised– "Well… I guess you wouldn't have, you're too young"
"Talking about that, how old are you Steve?"
He gives me a look.
"My good looks tend to say about 18" –He smirked.
"No, I mean, how old you really are?"
"Why do you wanna know? You don't need to know…" –He said a little defensive.
"It can't be that bad"
He sighs and looks away.
"Look, I don't mind if you are thousands of years old. I just wanna know, it's one of those things you tell to someone you are serious about… It's not like I'm asking to meet your parents." -I say, but as soon as I mention the "P" word I immediately regret it. Parents are a touchy subject, for the both of us.
He says nothing and just steals one of my fries.
I really don't wanna let it go, I want to know how old he really is. I just give him some time, before I push my case further.
"So! What do you wanna do today?" –He asks.
"Alright…" –I say, giving up for the time being– "Wanna go down Broadway and check things out? I've always wanted to go on a tour of Juilliard…" –I start saying, but his grimace stops me half sentence.
"Well then, what do YOU suggest?"
"I don't know… And I'm so bored! And you just like art stuff…" –He groans
I open my mouth to suggest something else.
"Don't even think I will go to the ballet with you" –He cuts me
I frown.
"Clubs are not even open yet…" –I say sadly
He shakes his head. I finish my fries and start sipping on my pop; we stay silent for a while.
"What about training?" –Steve asks
"What about it?"
"Have you ever being trained in anything?"
"Like…" –I raise an eyebrow
"Personal defense? Kung Fu?" –He offers.
I shake my head "Does dancing count?"
He shakes his head.
"I want to assess your strength. There's no time to loose, we need to put some meet in those bones" –Steve says teasing
I look at my arms subconsciously and disagree. They are not as week as they seem.
"Sure, let me change…" –I get up and throw the remains of my lunch/dinner in the trash. I start to change into a pair of jeans and a tank top.
Steve smiles at me and grabs a bottle of water from the little fridge by the TV.
"For the human" –He smiles nastily.
I punch him lightly on the shoulder.
"Is that all you've got?" –He says faking pity. I just turn around and walk out the door.
Outside is not sunny anymore. It's just one of those blank undecided days that remind me of winter. I start to regret not bringing a sweater with me. Steve, as if reading my mind, hands me his own.
"But… What about you?" –I say
"I'm fine… You're the human"
"Why don't you do something about it?" –I challenge him
He just shrugs "I don't think you're ready yet" And starts walking in front of me so I had no choice but to follow him.
"Are we going to a gym?" –I ask
"No"
I stay quiet for a minute, but seeing that he wasn't going to elaborate any time soon I ask.
"Where to?"
"The park" –He sighs– "You have to get used to the outdoors, vampaneze don't fight in fancy comfortable places"
'Well, that doesn't sound very good, or clean for that matter...–I think
We made it to Central Park and found an open field that allowed us enough space to maneuver whatever Steve wanted me to do.
He had me jogging for a while, to warm me up. He then made me run to see how good my speed was already, after a few laps he had me sweating, but pushed.
"C'mon Shiloh! Is that a joke?" –He sneered.
"No! I am serious! I am not getting any better that this" –I panted when I finally came to a stop a meter or so away from him.
"Go again" –He commanded me harshly.
"No!" –I moaned– "I am no good at running, I'm not the fastest or the most confidently balanced… It's why I never joined the track team…"
His expression softened for second
"You're not so bad, and once I blood you, you won't even realize how good you'll be. Especially if I train you since now… and for your balance and confidence, it'll come with the whole "vampaneze" package. Now, run!" –And his face grew hard once again.
I groaned, but started running once again.
I was in my next lap when I suddenly stopped.
"Now what princess?" –Steve yelled from where he was leaning against the bark of a tree. He'd started getting into the habit of calling me 'princess' because I complained so much.
"I hate this! I hate running and exercising! It's why I got into dance in the first place!" –I complained and flopped on the grass, utterly giving up.
"Nobody said this life was going to be easy! Now get up before I have to go over and make you!"
"Make me!" –I challenged, I was exhausted so I didn't care.
"I will bite you hard if I catch you!" –He warned.
A couple with a stroller looked on a little bewildered, but quickly got back to their own conversation.
"You're such a princess sometimes" –Steve started saying as I heard quick muffled steps coming closer.
As I looked over to the side I saw Steve running in my direction, murder in his eyes, he couldn't have looked any scarier if he wanted to because I knew he was already doing it on purpose.
Startled, I started to scramble to me feet. But I only made it a few meters because my legs were already sore enough. As he forcefully collided with me, I loudly yelped before my wind was knocked out and we fell hard on the grass floor.
"GOTCHA!" –He snarled.
I could only squirm and giggle. Soon enough he had me flat on the floor, putting his entire weigh on me so I couldn't struggle anymore.
"Fine, fine you win! I give up!" –I started to say, but my words were cut short by a sharp pain on my bum!
"Gah!" –I squealed
But the sharp pain pressed on, shutting my eyes tight I hissed, realizing for the first time where the pain was coming from. Teeth! Sharp, unforgiving teeth!
Steve was deliberately biting my butt!
After a second (or maybe a day) longer he let go, got off of me and sat on the grass beside me. I couldn't move, still feeling the after-shocks of the sharp burn his teeth left on my bum.
I opened my eyes and glared at him.
"Well! That's gonna leave a mark!" –He said merrily– "You should've listened to me, I meant it"
I only glared at him harder.
"So what did we learn today princess?" –He grinned
"To NOT let Steve's sharp teeth ANYWHERE near my bum!" –I said in between my teeth.
"Yes, there's that and… to listen, when I tell you to run, you run!"
"uh-huh" –I groaned, still glaring at him.
I got up slowly, the sharp pain still biting my flesh, as alive as if Steve himself was still biting me.
"Are we done?"
"For today…" –Steve smirked. Then had the nerve of spanking me before he started walking forward, making my already sore bum burn ablaze with renewed strength.
I gasped and squealed, rubbing my bum where it burnt the most.
"Ow!"
And that just sent him on a fit of laughter that gave me my first taste of how sadistic he truly was.
"You have good blood though" –He finally said, after he had calmed down.
"You drew blood?" –I asked incredulously, touching lightly where it still burnt.
"Just a little… Testing it you know" –He stopped and waited for me to catch up.
"What do you mean by 'testing it'?" –I asked now walking beside him.
"Have I ever told you why I hate vampires so much?"
"uhm… No… Not really" –I said, curiosity sparking up.
"Because a vampire by the name of Larten Crepsley once told me I had bad blood, he told me I was evil and a monster" –He said, his face void of any expression.
"Why would someone do that, it's mean…" –I frowned, confused. Steve's always being so nice to me. He has his moments and he can be quite mean sometimes, but evil, I doubted it.
"You're not evil"
"I know, but go tell the idiot that. When he told me that awful lie I was only 11 and it made me miserable. It almost destroyed me, I had such a low opinion of myself after that…" –He shook his head, and let out a short bitter laugh.
"Whoa… How did you end up in the path of a vampire that young anyway?" –I asked.
"Because the Cirque Du Freak rolled into town and he was part of it"
"the Cirque Du Freak?"
"Yes… Someone I thought as my best friend and I went to check it out. They were a freak show, it was great and I had fun, don't get me wrong. There was a bearded lady and a snake-boy and a lady with super strong teeth, a man that could eat anything, literally… –He smiled, with this faraway look in his eyes– and then the vampire…
And just like that his smile and nostalgic look were gone and replaced by one of bitter coldness, yet there was also determination in the way his jaw was set.
"He was performing with the freaks, he was a freak after all, and he had a spider. He was able to communicate telepathically with it and he could make it do tricks. That got Darren's attention." –He said the name 'Darren' with extra bitterness.
"Who's Darren?" –I asked softly, he was getting worked up and I was getting concerned.
"The person I naively thought was my best friend" –Steve said narrowing his eyes– "I was such an idiot"
"Why, what happened?" –I frowned.
Steve sighed.
"He betrayed me… I've always been fascinated by vampires, I was so passionate about them I wanted to become one. It was my ultimate dream, leaving home and going by the rules of the night, being all powerful, immortal, and majestic. Darren knew that, he knew… And yet he plotted against me. After the show I went to talk with the vampire, I offered myself as his assistant so he would take me ––
"How did you know he was a vampire?"
"Don't interrupt me!" –He snapped– "And to answer your question, I told you as a kid I was very passionate about vampires… Well, I recognised him from one of my vampire books, I had lots. Although in the book I had he had changed his name to Vur Horston, that night I found out his name was actually Larten Crepsley."
I nodded
"As I was saying, I talked to him and he showed interest, then he asked to test my blood and I let him… Next thing I know he was spitting and cursing, telling me to leave and never come back. He told me I had bad blood, so disgusting it was evil. He said I was a monster and that he would never blood me into a vampire, much less make me his assistant. I think he wanted to kill me right then and there but I ran away, I escaped him." –He licked his lips– "And the whole time Darren was there, hiding somewhere, but he was there. I always knew he was jealous of me, that he wanted to be like me. It's why he always followed me around and did all I said. I only kept him around because… He not only did everything I said but he also was a good friend… or so I thought."
By this time we had already reached the hotel we were staying.
"I would've never expected anything bad from Darren, but I later found out he was plotting against me the whole time… The vampire owned that performing spider I told you about and Darren was obsessed with spiders. He told me he had "stolen" it from the vampire" –He air quoted 'stolen' with his fingers– "He then invited me to play with him and the beast and I trusted him. But he commanded the thing after me and almost managed to kill me, because the thing was poisonous."
"How did you survive?" –I asked astonished.
"Doctors, they took me to the hospital and I was in a coma for a while. When I woke up things seemed ok to me but after a few weeks Darren randomly died! But still, I was no fool then. I snuck into the funeral place and went to check his body… Guess what I found?" –He raised his eyebrows.
I shake my head.
He opened his right hand wide in front of my eyes, at first glance it seemed perfectly fine to me but then I noticed five little scars on his fingers. I frowned.
"Do you see the scars on my fingertips?" –He asked
"Yes…" –I say, looking at them intently
"It's the one, most common mark in between us creatures of the night. Both vampaneze and vampires have them alike. Is how it's done, we exchange blood through our fingertips."
"So Darren had them?" –I asked eyes wide.
He nods gravely.
"He stole my dream, almost had me killed and became the vampire's assistant. He betrayed me" –He finishes softly, with the saddest look I've ever seen crossing his eyes for little while.
I was quiet after that. How can someone do such a thing, even worse, how can your best friend do something like that to you?
It was awful, this Darren guy was supposedly Steve's 'best friend' and knew his hopes and dreams, to go like that behind his back and consort with this being that had insulted him in such a way!
Because it was one thing if Darren didn't know about Steve's passion for vampires, but to be there when the vampire accused Steve of being evil and not standing up for him! Not doing anything!
That night I went to bed late, Steve was upset and stayed up ranting about how much he hated Darren for what he did to him and Crepsley for treating him so poorly. He hated them for hurting him so deeply.
After he finally fell asleep, I laid awake until dawn, thinking that maybe Steve was right and Darren was already plotting against him with the vampire, maybe that's why even though Darren was there Steve had to run away before the vampire killed him.
Maybe they were already trying to kill Steve!
I thought how it was all so unfair, and understood why Steve became a vampaneze instead.
Vampires weren't nice, they were mean and rude and prejudiced.
Steve deserved better.