Blood Born

by Jamie Manning

  “Then what did you see?” I asked, confusion mixing with fear on my face. Somehow I knew what she was going to say before she said it.

  “I saw you at lunch.” My body tensed, becoming rigid with panic. “I saw you turn into a vampire.”

  1

  0. CONFIDANT

  I started breathing heavy. Sweat popped out on my forehead, rolling down my temples and drenching my hair. My hands gripped the sink ledge behind me. I couldn’t move. Now I was the one who seemed paralyzed.

  “Wh—what are you talking about?” I tried playing dumb, hoping she would let it go.

  “You know what I’m talking about,” she answered, her voice unwavering. I studied her face, searching for signs of anything. Fear, panic, shock; none of those were there. It was like she couldn’t have been less surprised. I loosened my grip on the sink, mainly for fear of ripping it off the wall with the super strength I kept forgetting I now had. I felt the tension in my body ease a bit, too.

  “What are you going to do?” I eagerly awaited her response, half expecting her to run from the locker room screaming “MONSTER!” but she didn’t. She stood calm and still, her eyes unflinching. I was amazed at her coolness.

  “I’m not gonna tell anyone,” she finally offered. “So don’t worry about that.” I believed her. And I said a thousand silent thank-yous.

  “Why not?” I was such a glutton for punishment. Apparently I wanted to push her into running to the principal’s office. Or the police. Or maybe an exorcist.

  “Because I think it’s awesome.” That was the first thing she’d said with any emotion since calling me out. Awesome? Did she really just say awesome?.

  “I know, it sounds crazy, right? Someone finds out you’re a vampire and they think it’s cool.” She smiled wide as she spoke, like a movie star fan finally getting to meet her idol. She was practically gushing she was so excited. “But it’s true. I’ve waited, like, my entire life for this. It’s amazing.” She moved toward me, and though my instincts—probably the vampire ones—were yelling at me to back away and run for safety, something kept me planted in place. I watched wide-eyed as she stopped inches from me. At such a close distance, I was able to tell that she looked younger than me, thirteen or fourteen at best.

  “Amazing.” I heard my voice speak, though I didn’t remember saying the word. “I would hardly call it amazing.” I decided playing dumb was a waste of time. Clearly this girl knew the truth, and she was actually excited about it. “A curse is more like it.” I leaned against the sink behind me, hoping it wouldn’t break loose and send me and it to the floor.

  “Only if you let it be.” There was seriousness in the girl’s tone. “It can be great if you want.” Maybe she was right. Maybe I could embrace this new side of me and learn to love it, making my life better instead of worse. I doubted it, but maybe.

  “Are you an expert or something?” I kind of hoped she would say yes. At least then I would have someone besides Aldric to turn to when I needed help.

  “A novice,” she explained. “But definitely hoping to learn more. All I know is what’s on the Internet. And trust me, you’ve already broken like ten of those myths.” She used her hands to emphasize “ten,” apparently finding that to be a huge deal.

  “What myths? What do you mean I’ve broken them?”

  “Well for starters, you’re walking around in the daylight without spontaneously combusting. And you’re not pale.” She reached out and quickly touched my arm. “And your skin is warm. That’s three of them right there.” I could do nothing but stare at her as she spoke. She held a certain confidence and ease that I found refreshing. Other than Chance and his mom, no one else in town had been nice to me. Until now.

  “Well you can’t really count that as me breaking them,” I said. “I’m technically not a vampire.”

  Her face crushed. “But I saw you.” She sounded as if she would cry.

  “I’m half vampire.” I leaned in as I spoke, suddenly aware that someone could burst through the door at any moment.

  “Whoa.” It was a simple statement that said it all. “That’s amazing.” This was one strange girl.

  “I need to get out of here,” I said, breaking away from my spot against the sink and heading for the door.

  “Wait!” She yelled after me, trying to stop me from leaving the locker room. I ignored her as I pushed the door open and sprinted for the gym exit. I bolted for the door, heading out into the bright, warm sun. Persistence apparently being her strong suit, Goth girl was quickly nipping at my heels.

  “Please don’t run away,” she begged, sounding less like the strong-willed girl from a minute ago and more like a child. “I didn’t mean to freak you out.”

  “How can you say that?” I asked, stopping to turn and face her. We were practically in the middle of the open field next to the gym; Chance was probably watching by now. “How can you think you freaked me out? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?” I stared at her, watching for signs of fear. “Why are you not scared of me?” I finally asked after seeing no reaction on her face.

  “I told you,” she said. “I think it’s cool.” Frustrated, I turned and kept walking away from her. And she kept following. The two of us crossed the field. I could see Chance now, and he had stopped playing football. He was at my side within seconds.

  “What’s going on?” he asked, his breath a bit ragged from the game. “Who’s she?” He glanced over his shoulder at Goth girl, who was moping along about ten feet behind us. I kept walking, but couldn’t help notice the sweat clinging to his bronzed skin and flexed biceps. I had to look away to keep from blushing.

  “Goth girl,” I said; I realized too late that it was aloud. Chance looked at me like I was crazy. “Sorry,” I added. “I don’t know her name.” Chance stopped walking and turned around. The girl stopped, too, keeping her distance from us.

  “Who are you?” Chance asked. “I don’t recognize you from school.” This statement freaked me out even more.

  “I just transferred here,” she said, barely above a whisper. Vampires did nothing to her, but apparently hot jocks scared the crap out of her. She was like a nervous kitten taking its first steps. “My name’s Kayla. Kayla Harper.”

  “Where did you come from, Kayla Harper?” Chance’s voice was stern and demanding. His gladiator-like stance only backed up his tone.

  “From Chicago. My mom and I moved here last week.” Her answers seemed genuine, though I had been having trouble lately determining what was true and what wasn’t. Chance’s tension seemed to ease a bit, and I took that as him believing her.

  “Why are you following Ava around?” This time when he spoke, it was with more curiosity and less venom. He was still breathing a little heavy, so I’m sure to Kayla he looked like he was ready to pounce on her. Of course, if she were anything like all the other girls in this school, that may not have been all bad in her opinion.

  “She saw me.” I answered Chance. I figured I would help Kayla out by at least giving her time to catch her breath. “At lunch.” Chance’s head jerked toward me when I said that; he knew exactly what ’at lunch’ meant.

  “You’re kidding?” he snapped.

  “She knows I’m a vampire.”

  “She doesn’t know,” he whispered, leaning into me. His physical exertion only heightened his alluring scent; I shuddered.

  “I told her.” I expected him to flip out, but he only stood upright and took a deep breath.

  “Why did you do that?” he asked, his eyes fixated on Kayla.

  “Because she knew, Chance. She saw the teeth.” I said it like it hadn’t been my teeth Kayla had seen grow into fangs. Like the three of us were discussing the latest vampire book or movie, not real life. Not my life.

  “She doesn’t know what she saw.” I could tell Chance was trying to confuse Kayla, trying to make her think she was mistaken.

  “I do know,” Kayla said, a bit of the confidence she held earlier renewed in her voice. She still cowered
away from us, like she would turn and run at any moment, but her voice was stronger. “I know a vampire when I see one.”

  “Oh really?” Chance asked smartly. “See them a lot do you?” I had never seen this side of him before, this controlling, angry, demanding side. It was both thrilling and scary at the same time.

  “Online.” Kayla said. It sounded like the dumbest answer in the world right now.

  “Online? You’re comparing whatever you think you saw today to some made up story? What are you, twelve?” He was being rude; I swiped his arm to let him know he had gone too far. He looked over at me and rubbed the spot I hit.

  “I’m sixteen,” Kayla said, surprising me. I never would have guessed we were the same age.

  “Sixteen and not very smart.” Chance grabbed my arm and began moving us away from Kayla. “You have a real bright future ahead of you, kid.” He said ‘kid‘ like he was forty or something. I hadn’t expected him to be so cruel; it actually surprised me.

  “I’m bright enough to know that telling someone would cause a world of trouble for you guys.” Kayla’s words stopped us in our tracks. I glanced over at Chance before the two of us turned around to face her. He still had a firm grip on my arm that tightened a bit as we walked over to her. Yeah, I was freaking out, too.

  “Is that a threat?” Chance asked, the veins in his neck bulging. He had let go of my arm, and I noticed his hands were crunched into tight fists by his sides. I kept switching my focus between his face and Kayla’s, ready to interject if the situation became physical.

  “No, not at all,” Kayla said. “I didn’t mean that. I mean that I understand how dangerous this is, that’s all.” The terror was back in her eyes, and her body reflected her fear of what Chance could do to her. She curled in on herself, practically shaking.

  “So I guess you want us to say ‘Cool! Somebody else knows so let’s invite her to the party!’ Right?” Chance asked.

  Kayla stood quiet, obviously choosing the right words. “I just want you to know that you can trust me. That even though I know, I’m not telling.” She appeared to be looking at me, like she wanted my okay. I honestly didn’t know what to say. I mean, the idea of someone else being in on this new secret part of my life was exciting. But at the same time, the more people who knew, the more I was in danger. Right? Looking at Kayla standing there, though, pleading with her eyes for me to jump in and save her, I just couldn’t walk away.

  “Do you really think we’re gonna trust you?” Chance went on. “We don’t even know you.” He had finally released my arm, and was doing a frantic two-step pacing that was making me dizzy.

  “But you can. I promise.” I could practically smell Kayla’s nervousness, pulsing through her veins right along with her intoxicating blood.

  “You promise? Well, then that settles it I guess. Since you promise not to tell, I guess we should just tell you everything.”

  “Tell me everything—what?” Kayla asked.

  “What?” Chance asked back.

  “You said you should tell me everything. What else is there to tell?”

  Chance didn’t answer her. He looked at me, realizing that in his anger-fueled outburst he had said too much. Kayla now knew that we were hiding something, that my being a vampire wasn’t the only secret she had stumbled upon today. And something told me she wouldn’t let it go until we came clean. Panicked, I closed my eyes a moment to clear my mind, and to try and figure out what we should do.

  Should we trust Kayla? Should we tell her everything that’s going on with me? Who I am? What I have to do to survive? If we don’t, will she run to the police? That last question flashed in my mind, the possibility of what would happen if Kayla told the world about me overwhelming my senses. I couldn’t do this, not now.

  “Why don’t we just drop it, okay?” I said, more as an order than a request. “We all need a break. We can talk about it tomorrow.” The idea sounded good to me. At least it would momentarily thwart Kayla’s inquisition until Chance and I had time to process what had happened—and to decide if we were going to be honest with her about everything; and allow her to become part of whatever semblance of a team we were. A vampire-killing team, which was totally weird to me. Kayla needed to do some processing, too. She just saw a real live vampire; excited about it or not, that was definitely out of the ordinary. After some time to think, she may not even want to become part of our little group. At least, I hoped she wouldn’t. Besides the fact that it scared the crap out of me someone else knew what I was, I honestly didn’t have a clue what purpose she would serve if we did let her in. If anything, I felt she might be more of a problem; the smell of her blood was way too inviting for me. The only reason I hadn’t sunk my fangs into her neck already was because the thought of doing it still kind of grossed me out.

  “Fine,” Chance said in agreement. “We’ll talk tomorrow.” He didn’t wait for Kayla to say anything, turning swiftly and walking away from her in the direction of the ongoing football game. I watched him leave, knowing that his anger was probably still boiling just beneath the surface. He had become so overprotective of me in such a short time that I felt it would kill him if something ever happened to me that he could have stopped.

  “I’m sorry for all this,” Kayla said, pulling my attention back to her. “I should have just kept my mouth shut.” She lowered her eyes to her feet, which she was using to grind blades of grass into the dirt.

  “Yeah, you should have,” I said, my own anger trying to escape. I knew better than to let that happen, though. I fought hard to calm down. “But that’s pointless to think about now. You already know.”

  “I meant it when I said I won’t tell your secret to anybody. You can trust me.” Kayla looked at me again when she spoke, and even as badly as I wanted to believe her, something was holding me back. I took a few steps toward her, closing the gap between us. By the time my face was directly in front of hers, that anger I’d been trying to suppress was rearing its violent head. I felt the fangs sitting dormant beneath my gums begin to twitch.

  “You better hope I can,” I threatened. I could tell by the expression of utter fear on Kayla’s face that not only had my fangs become exposed, but that my eyes were burning with fiery rage. “Because if you do something to me, or to Chance, you’re going to see first hand how bad I can get.”

  As I waited for Chance to get changed out of his sweaty gym clothes so we could leave, I watched Kayla leave the gym and head over to the line of school buses circling the right side of campus. She walked with a sort of no-nonsense air about her, like nothing in the world could affect her. But I knew I had. I knew that my threat had gotten to her, scared her. And that made me happy. Well, the vampire side of me. The human side felt like a bitch. I made a promise to treat her better if we decided to let her join us.

  As other students and faculty scampered around campus, some heading to the buses, some to the parking lot where I was anxious to go myself, I couldn’t help but feel guilty for what I had done to Kayla. What gave me the right to act that way? Since waking up in that coffin—since this new unlife fell into my lap—all I’ve wanted is to be normal, be human. The first chance I get, I’m going all vamp? I truly felt like a monster, vampire side or not. I vowed right then to treat Kayla better... and to keep the monster raging inside me at bay; I just hoped it would be that easy.

  As I waited for Chance to get changed out of his sweaty gym clothes so we could leave, I watched Kayla leave the gym and head over to the line of school buses circling the right side of campus. She walked with a sort of no-nonsense air about her, like nothing in the world could affect her. But I knew I had. I knew that my threat had gotten to her, scared her. And that made me happy. Well, the vampire side of me. The human side felt like a bitch. I made a promise to treat her better if we decided to let her join us.

  Chance finally met up with me outside the gym, and we walked across campus to his truck, heavy silence hanging between us just as it had that morning. This time, though, for
very different reasons.

  “You know we have to tell him,” he stated after several minutes of silence. “If we don’t, he’ll kill her if he finds out.” I knew that what Chance was saying was probably true, but I wasn’t ready to tell the most dangerous man on the planet that I had royally screwed up. I mean, I had thought about dying to kill the vampire growing stronger within me, but actually being faced with the possibility of it happening had me reconsidering.

  “Not today,” I answered, keeping my eyes focused on the road rolling beneath us. “I’ve got enough to deal with.” That couldn’t have been more true. Today was my first day of Vampire Training.

  Aldric was already at the abandoned house in the woods by the time Chance and I got there. He was leaning against the back of his black sedan, looking more like a realtor waiting to show a house to potential buyers than a bloodsucking killer ready to train his next undead soldier. My body uncontrollably tensed. Just the sight of him made me uneasy. I couldn’t explain it, but there was something familiar about him, and that scared the hell out of me.

  “Glad you could make it, Ava,” he said as I climbed from the truck. The air was cool and refreshing on my skin, making the lush evergreens surrounding the snow-covered clearing glow with vibrancy. At any other time, the setting would have been beautiful. Now, it just stood as a reminder of the humanity I was slowly losing by doing what I had come here to do. To me, honing my skills as a vampire meant neglecting my human abilities. I hated it, but if I didn’t train to defend myself, I wouldn’t have a life to try and save once this was all over.

  “I apologize for the surroundings,” he continued, “but this is really the best place for our first lesson.”

  “Let’s just get this over with,” I said, walking past him to the back of the house. I caught sight of his smile in my peripheral; he was enjoying my torture. I know he preferred me totally accepting, giving up my human side. He would have been immensely pleased if I made the decision to join him for eternity. That was the last thing on earth I ever planned on doing.