Alucard was staring at the waning moon when John showed up before the dormitory. The superintendent was glaring from behind the glass, but neither of the students took notice.
"Let's go to the football stadium." When Alucard gave him a questioning look, the boy responded that it was quieter and more private. The two left without looking back at the disturbed old woman or the glare coming from one of the windows.
"Alright." John flinched when the vampire sat down next to him, leaning back on the concrete that made up the next level of the stand overlooking the football stadium. It seemed to be sinking into a crater, the way everything was elevated around it, and the lights were on, illuminating the turf. No one could be seen as the vampire's voice carried for a little ways in the thin night air. Clouds were coming from John's face as he breathed, while Alucard's was obstruction free, but the boy didn't notice. There was something else he noted keenly and he leaned forward and sniffed Alucard, making the vampire stare at him.
"You smell good."
Alucard's eyes narrowed at the memory and he smiled darkly, fascinating the boy with how different the response was. Girls would usual blush when he said stuff like that, not look like they had just murdered someone. He started at the familiar word and turned his face to the football field. His eyes opened in surprise when Alucard spoke.
"Strawberry soap the police girl uses. I had no other option."
"What do you usually use?"
Alucard paused, not finding an answer. He chose a less desirable tactic to fix the slip up. "Do you ask all girls that question?"
"It's not that personal…" John sighed as if he was bored instead of hiding a smirk. "But I guess you're just old fashioned."
"Shut up and tell me your story, Suicide-boy." Alucard smiled with satisfaction when the boy cringed and lost his humor.
"So cruel…" he muttered and Alucard chuckled, not noticing when John joined briefly. "Sure you don't want to just talk?"
"No. I'd rather listen."
John sighed with disappointment and he grimaced at the ordeal ahead of him. The boy folded his hands, looking between his legs at the concrete under his feet. "I guess…" he smiled darkly for a moment and then scowled. His face soon melted to dim depression and he closed his eyes with the acceptance of his commitment. "…I'll tell you about Christmas Break." An ironic laugh broke his words, but he continued immediately. "We don't celebrate Christmas, really, not the actual event. We aren't religious, though we have presents."
"That's why you would kill yourself?"
John started when Alucard spoke, but he shrugged. "I guess they say you go to Hell for that, but…" he chuckled. "I killed someone so what do I care? I don't believe in Hell anyway…"John looked up at Alucard with an odd smile. "But you do." Alucard returned the humor more darkly than the boy could have ever imagined on a human face.
"Well…" red eyes widened a little, making the girl's appearance intimidating for a passing moment. "Yeah." John turned away from the chilling smile, but held his own.
"But I don't. I think when you're dead…you're just that. Dead. No Heaven or Hell…it's just like sleep. Like the end. But I suppose it could be both Heaven and Hell depending on the person. I'm young, so dying would be unfortunate, like something was stolen from me. I'd never experienced life… So I wanted to take this future away, like punishing myself. I think it was guilt…but I might have been afraid of myself."
Alucard was quiet, letting the boy's words occupy his mind without his own thoughts.
"I'm evil, universally, in every belief, because I killed someone." The teen stopped and sighed without looking away from the area between his white and black sneakers. They caught some of the light, reflecting it, and he watched for a while. "My father is worn out, or was…I think. Either that or he just wanted me to leave for the break. He's not good with people anymore, he might have been before my mother came into his life…but he's not now. I was supposed to drive up to my grandmother's house, my dad's mom, but she was away. Somehow, it was arranged that I would visit my mother. My car's a piece of shit," John allowed a little humor to flash into and out of his eyes. "…so I was late on the day that they expected me. That's probably what set up the stage for disaster. She got mad at me right off the bat."
"Dan's a good guy, my stepfather. Wealthy and all, but not distant. I think my mom liked that. When I was there and peered around a corner when their family was together, she smiled and she actually looked…pretty. She had always seemed older, tired and aged with drinking and just plain unhappiness. She must have sobered up because the house was neat, and normal. Everything gave off an air of normality. However, when I entered the scene, everything would be ruined. She was so distracted one time that she let go of Jessica, er…Jenifer…her daughter, and the little girl fell from her chair she was being situated into it. The kid started bawling and I just ran to the guestroom. I didn't return for dinner and she yelled at me, bitching about…" The boy's eyes opened with worry and he glanced at Alucard and apologized but the vampire shook his head and ordered him to continue. "…about how she cooked only one dinner, not separate ones for each person. She had a family and they were used to eating together, though…" he smiled cruelly at himself. "…I wasn't used to such a thing…as she said in her own words. She started badmouthing my father, and I almost cried…" the boy laughed again, his face reddening with emotion. "…because I couldn't say anything different. I couldn't correct her or defend him. 'He's a worthless piece of crap! He doesn't have human feelings, that man! Neither do you! That's why I left you both in the first place! You probably aren't even my son! He sent you here to be with some woman,' she laughed the words…. 'I know he is! He cheated on me during our marriage…I know! I would see him at a gym and he would be on a treadmill next to some girl half his age…' she always had stuff to say. Don't know where she got it from. One time she actually keyed his car, I stood watching, not understanding what she was doing. I realized later when my dad drove home and parked the car and it had a long, jagged scar along the doors. The paint peeling and everything…"
"I didn't like it, the memories she was forcing me to see, so I started yelling too. I slammed the door in her face when she began to get really mad. I was scared, scared of my own mother… But she opened the door and started screaming about how I shouldn't slam other people's doors, that this wasn't my house, and I didn't really belong there. I heard Dan's voice in the background but I was busy yelling back at her, I don't really remember much of what I said, but it wasn't that great…and I still feel that it wasn't the extent of what I meant to tell her. To make her understand how much pain she'd put me through…I would have had to tell her everything, but my mind registered that this was impossible, so I ended up saying random things that amounted to nothing. I told her that she was evil and that she was going to go to Hell, even though I didn't believe in Hell…stupid things like that."
"She laughed at me and said it herself…how stupid I was, and she reminded me of all the trouble I had gotten myself into. The drugs and crap I did. I said something about her being the same and that I must have gotten that from her, and she lunged at me. She managed to scratch my arm through my T-shirt before Dan pulled her away and out of the room. He paused long enough to hint that I should lay low for a while, and left. I threw myself on the bed and cried. I was crying because I was crying… because I didn't want to cry. I hated myself more than anyone at that moment, because her calmness and the love in her family was still fresh in my mind…and I knew that it was my fault she was behaving like that."
"But she got even more upset after that and we didn't speak until the Monday of the second week. Dan went to work that morning…and the girl was in her room playing when my mom suddenly took it into her head to come to my room. 'Do you want a ride anywhere? I'm leaving.' I stared at her for a moment, not knowing if she was being nice or just trying to get rid of me. 'No, I'm good.' I remember saying…then she wrinkled her nose at me. She said something about me smelling bad and I told her I had run that morning, I was returning to the basketball season when I got back to school so I needed to be in shape. She started on about the smell and how it was still going to be there when I left and she wouldn't be able to forget about me. I yelled something at her and she yelled back. Finally she slammed the door and I commented about how she'd told me not to slam it before. She walked down the hall and returned with her daughter whining in her grasp. She told me to get in her car because she was taking me back to my father. I argued that I needed my stuff and that I had my own car, but she yelled again and said she didn't need me driving off to some shady place…then something about me not being on the basketball team. I defended this, because I had worked my ass off to get on the team… And the fight got out of hand. She dragged the kid downstairs and got in the car and started blasting her damn horn for all the world to hear."
"I couldn't stand such a scene and the ruckus that was polluting the quiet neighborhood, and I could hear Jessica/Jenifer pleading for her to stop. So I got in the car and let her drive off. She was quiet for a while then she started yelling about how I was ungrateful and she started cussing. The little girl was terrified and she was clamping her ears with her hands and singing some song she couldn't half remember and the whole thing was just agonizing. I tried being calm and asked for her to stop, but she just yelled louder to spite me. Then it got so bad that she was saying nonsense like calling me… 'little shit'…'motherfucker'…" John cringed and shook his head, horrified by the nonsensical words. "I started almost screaming for her to shut up, that her daughter was crying, but she just yelled more profanity. I bet people we drove passed thought that we were possessed, we were yelling so loud, even on the interstate. Other cars probably heard us."
"Then she said she hated me. She said it over and over until my vision was blurred and I couldn't think straight, I was just so angry at her. She was turned around, not looking where she was going as she drove. Without thinking or anything, I dove forward in my chair, limited by the seatbelt, and I just…hit her…with all my strength."
John fell silent and one of his arms slipped from his leg where his elbow had been resting, and he had to right himself. "The girl had her eyes closed…and after…" He swallowed shakily and continued. "The car immediately swerved to the left as she was knocked off balance…we hit another car, the end of the car, and from there… everything is a blur. We spun out of control…the girl was screaming, my mother was screaming, maybe. I also think I was too, but I don't know. Later, I found out that the car had spun across six lanes, being struck by three other cars. Two before we slowed, then another that pushed us into the cement blocks on the side of the highway. The minivan was beat up, but Jessica and I were fine, only a few scratches from the glass…" He fingered his sleeve for a moment. "…but she hadn't been wearing a seatbelt…and when I looked up to find her…she wasn't even in the…" John gasped, tears breaking on the ground, darkening it. "…she wasn't even in the goddamn car." He covered his face, rubbing at it furiously when the tears refused to stop and he ran his sleeve over his running nose. "I just sat there in a stupor with the crying girl screaming for her 'Mommy'. The front of the car, the windshield, was broken. The accident had taken place right before a bridge in the highway…and the place we hit was the beginning of it. She had flown out over the side and…God!" he sobbed harder. "She was in a coma until she died, with tubes in her and he face was messed up…!"
The vampire didn't do anything other than watch as the boy gave in to his misery.
"B..but she deserved it in a way right?"
Alucard couldn't tell if John was talking to him until the boy sat up and grabbed his shoulder. He ignored the filthy state of the boy's hands and let the teen shake him slightly. Then the shaking became more violent as he yelled with tears running down his face.
"SHE WAS A HORRIBLE PERSON! SHE WAS! SHE WAS A TERRIBLE MOTHER!"
"Hey." Alucard lifted a hand to try and make him quiet down, but the boy shook his head and continued, looking down and closing his eyes. He shook Alucard again, once.
"YOU DON'T TEAR UP YOUR CHILD'S MOTHER'S DAY CARDS RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM! YOU DON'T SEND THEM BACK IN THE MAIL, CHARGING THEM FOR THE FEE OF SENDING THE LETTER BACK! YOU DON'T BLAME YOUR CHILD FOR BEING ALIVE! I NEVER WANTED TO! I NEVER ASKED! I NEVER ASKED! I NEVER ASKED HER TO HAVE ME!"
He panted after the fit of passion and slumped forward suddenly, startling the vampire when John put his face on his shoulder and continued to cry.
"She was horrible."
Time passed after the whisper, and finally the buzzing of the floodlights on the field could be heard with the introduction of crickets in the brushes behind them, separated by a black, chain-link fence.
"I killed her, and no one will ever know because the evidence was erased by the fucking car crash." John muttered, forgetting to apologize for his language.
Alucard sighed, catching his attention. The nosferatu was a little disappointed but he didn't say anything about it and watched the field, pushing the boy away gradually. "You didn't kill her if you didn't mean to."
"But I meant to hurt her!" he protested weakly, self loathing evident in his features.
"Then that's all you're guilty of. Don't kill yourself over it."
John's gaze fell to his shoes again. "But I broke that family. I stole that kid's mother…that guy's wife. They had been happy until I ruined it."
"She ruined it because she couldn't think about the future…stuck in the past. It's not entirely your fault. It's mostly hers."
There was quiet for a long time. John gave an awkward, sad laugh and rubbed his face again. "I can't believe I just did this. I barely know you." He laughed again. His arm went to his side and Alucard noticed the glint of metal and the sheen of plastic as he drew something from his pocket. It was an IPod and a pair of folded up earphones that clicked as the boy set them up for use. He glanced at the watchful red eyes, a little ashamed of himself. "Music helps calm me down…and I don't want to go back looking like this." He turned on the music player and looked at the girl again as she examined it.
"Do you even know what this is called?" John looked at the vampire with mild humor when it sighed again, in annoyance.
"It's a PeaPod, right?"
John stared at Alucard dumbly for several moments. "Even if you're trying to cheer me up, that's gross. And no, it's an IPod." He turned his attention to the stadium lights, looking at the swarm of insects that were lit up like specks of dust, without real interest.
"IPod?" Alucard paused with a growl. "It doesn't matter anyway." He looked at the light with distaste and then glanced at the boy, frowning. "Why is that gross?"
"It was crude humor." John didn't look at him and Alucard paused in thought. His eyes narrowed eyes the revelation.
"No. I was thinking of peapods." John had turned his head by this time and Alucard away as he portrayed the image with his hands. "You know, the little pod full of peas. They're green. The vegetable?"
John tried not to laugh at the visual Alucard was providing and he apologized with a smile before looking at the screen of his IPod to see what time it was. "Past 8'oclock. I'll walk you back." They both stood, John somewhat stiffly. He was significantly more cheery than he had been moments before.
"No. I'm fine." John started to protest but Alucard had already left, so the teen sighed and looked after the girl for a moment before turning around and strolling towards the boy's dorm, watching light reflect off his shoes in thought. "She should have been a lot more uncomfortable with me doing that…" he mused to himself and walked into the shadows where his shoes didn't have any light to reflect.
When Alucard got by the upset superintendent and made it to his room, Harriet was sitting in front of the door with crossed arms and a sour expression.
"Back so soon?" she sneered as Alucard approached. "There's plenty of the night left."
Alucard stood by her legs as they stretched most of the width of the corridor. "Move, girl." He hadn't been listening to her words.
Harriet laughed and Alucard watched without an expression as she refused to move. "Maybe you're too young for that."
The vampire paused. "What are you talking about?" This set off another bout of laughter and a head appeared out of a door down the hall.
"Shut up, Harriet. There are some people trying to study here." The door closed sharply and the girl grinned as she stood up. She was several inches taller than Alucard and gazed down at him until he moved around her and knocked on the door for the police girl to open it.
"What were you doing with John?" the door had yet to open and Alucard glared at the locked handle.
"Talking."
"Yeah right. For two and a half hours? Where did you guys go?"
Alucard huffed in annoyance. "The stadium if you must know, girl. If you are bothered by it, just tell the boy that. Leave me out of this stupidity."
"I know John." Her eyes were narrowed. "You two did it, didn't you?"
The emphasis on it made the vampire's eyes widen and Seras started and almost closed the door when she saw his furious, disgusted expression. "I'm not you." He spat and heard a gasp as he shut the door in Harriet's face.
"What do you mean by that, bitch?" she exclaimed indignantly at the door, smacking it with her hand. Several voices told her to shut up when doors clicked open and she left, fuming, down the hall.
Seras looked on in quiet as her Master threw the pillow from his bed, across the room, and went to his luggage to get ready for his night excursion.
"What were you doing with Harriet?"
"Nothing." He unzipped the suitcase and drew out the small briefcase that held his pistols. The luggage was inconspicuously lined with a foil like covering on the inside and, when opened, it let out a drifting cloud at the sublimation of ice into vapor. Blood packets filled the rest of the makeshift icebox. "She just accused me of something obscene, that's all. I was with the boy again."
"Why?" Seras' eyes were wide and she bit her lip nervously. "And what did Harriet say?"
"The boy said he killed someone and he tried to kill himself, so I was interested. I made him tell his story and he finished it just now." Alucard turned off the safety on his gun. "The girl claimed that we did something inappropriate together."
The vampire melted into the wall, leaving the police girl rigid with confusion and disbelief.
Alucard peered over his arm when John sat beside him in their Art History class. He had set his IPod by the vampire's face and red eyes looked it over without interest. "What are you doing?"
John revealed a notebook and a binder containing the assignment that was due. "Nothing."
"Why are you sitting back here?"
The boy didn't look away from his binder as he opened it. "It's not like you own the back of the room… Do you?" The sarcasm and the smirk were noted and Alucard sat up.
"What happened to your own seat?"
"Don't like it anymore. I'd rather sit with you."
The black haired girl scowled and eyed the teacher who hadn't noticed them. "Do I get a say in the matter?"
John was smiling when he turned to Alucard's frown. "Nope."
"You little…" Both of them looked up when the bell rang and Mrs. Flore tapped at the whiteboard with her marker before she took up her assignment book and started through the semicircle-rows of tables. "Your teacher's going to notice."
"She's your teacher too."
The vampire decided to resort to ignoring the youth and he put his head on his arms. Mrs. Flore looked at them when she went to John's spot and found it empty. She dithered for a moment, but overlooked the unannounced change. Later she questioned them once she had finished checking John's homework as being on time and complete.
"Are you switching seats, Mr. Blake?" the teacher looked at the boy for an answer, but Alucard spoke up first.
"No."
John smiled politely. "Yes."
"No he's not."
"Yes, I am."
The teacher was slightly amused by the students until Alucard let out a cat-like hiss. Maybe she needs to learn more social skills… The woman turned around and abandoned her students.
"That was a weird sound." John was staring at Alucard.
"That's because I'm weird. Shoo. Scat. Make yourself scarce."
The vampire was ignored and the period passed slowly.
"Want to listen to music?" John offered a head phone, turning the ear piece out.
"No." Came a grumbled voice that turned into a growl when the boy forced the earphones onto the girl's head. Alucard opened his eyes to tear them away, but he hesitated at the piano that was playing. Moments passed and Alucard closed his eyes again settled to fall asleep. "I didn't think kids your age listened to music like this."
"I told you, music calms me down. You like it?" Alucard couldn't see John's smile and he didn't answer.
Seras turned around when she realized Harriet wasn't even trying to hide her interest in what was going on in the back of the room. The vampire had to blink several times to make sure that her Master was, indeed, sleeping while listening to an IPod, red headphones apparent in the ebony hair that covered his face. "This is weird." Seras looked at her notes when Harriet heard her and turned around in her seat.
"What did you say?"
"H…she doesn't usually do stuff like this." The police girl flinched when the other girl's eyes burned and Harriet glowered at her lap.
The teen spoke through her teeth. "You don't say?"