Before
High School is the same anywhere you go. Boring classes, bland teachers, and kids running amuck down the halls. There are the cliques, and the groups who blend together in a forgotten mesh of faces. Then, there’s me. Schools golden girl, that everyone knows and wants to be. My name is Tammy Maynard, but this story isn’t about me and High School. No, this is about me and the Amatores Sanguinis, and it all starts with my loving boyfriend, Luke.
---
“Tammy?” a deep, soft voice said, pulling me out of my thoughts. I jumped with surprise and turned around to face Luke. His thick black lashes fluttered, and his small pink lips pulled into a thin smile. This couldn’t be good.
“There you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Luke’s tan body leaned toward me as he gave me a hug, his muscled arms holding me tight to his side.
“Well, uh, you found me,” I answered back, watching as his eyes immediately went from my shoulder-length, thick chestnut colored hair, down to my medium-size chest, and then back up to my eyes. “I was just wandering around. I’ve got time to kill before cheerleading.”
Luke nodded, uninterested as usual. He couldn’t care less what I did, it was all him, all the time. Luke wasn’t a bad person, but he was a bad, no a terrible boyfriend.
“Oh, right, whatever. Listen, I need to tell you something,” he said, his fingers wrapped around my wrist. “I was at the bar the other day, and well I got into a fight with this one guy. You’re great at talking to people, and well I think he might sue...I beat him up pretty bad. I’m in trouble right now babe, I need you to call him and just…work your magic.” I felt my blood start to boil and hands shake as Luke handed me his phone.
“It’s calling,” he said smugly, and walked off.
The phone only rung once, not enough time to hang up, before the click of an answer came on. “You’ve got Duke.” I took a deep breath, holding the phone tight to my ear. Could I really do this again? Did I really have to solve Luke’s problems myself, since he was too much of an idiot to do it himself?
I sighed, knowing in the end I’d have no choice but the obvious. Luke was my boyfriend, and I was nothing if not loyal to those I loved...although love would be a bit of a stretch when it came to my feelings for Luke. “Duke, you and I have to have a little talk,” I whispered between clenched teeth.
“Finally, I’ve been awaiting this call from you. When, and where?” he answered back, without hesitation. Something about his voice was so alluring, sending warning signals throughout my brain.
I couldn’t stop my mouth from rattling off the address to my home though, and telling him that he could come over in two hours. It was like his voice put me under a spell, one that I couldn’t resist.
How could I just give some guy my address though? Someone I didn’t even know? Someone who could be a potential killer, stalker, rapist? What the hell was wrong with me?
“Good, you’re done. I need my cell back, football practice. Before I go though, I’ll make sure to mention to the cheerleading coach how you won’t be at practice today. Bye, love you,” Luke said, grabbing his phone from my hand and waltzing away without a single glace back at me.
Now what was I supposed to do?
---
I tried walking to cheerleading, but it was like I didn’t control my feet, and was being forced to my car. I didn’t want to go home and see this guy, especially since I’d be home alone, but just like when Duke my address from me, I couldn’t help but walk to my car and start towards home.
On the ride to my house, thoughts flew throughout my head. Who was this Duke, and what the hell had Luke gotten himself into this time? He had never been the smartest kid in the world, but really? Getting into a bar fight? And now, as was his usual, I was stuck in the middle of it all. God, I felt bad for my mom. She was bound to be pissed at me when she heard about this, and I’d just gotten out of trouble for sneaking out. Damn it.
Luke...thoughts of him triggered what his face looked like just minutes ago, when he’d told me the wonderful news about how I had to fix his shit again. Now that I thought about it, he had looked sort of...odd. His eyes had looked kind of glazed over, which I mean if I thought about it could just be drugs or alcohol. He was always doing one or the other. Maybe that would be his reason for the bar fight, although all this crap that’s messed with his mind made him even dumber than he already was...so maybe not.
My heart ached with the need to just have a normal life with a normal boyfriend, one that I wasn’t just with for status. One that I truly loved, and who loved me back. I shook the thought away, not wanting to think of those things. Those dreams I couldn’t have. I was in a respected family and, although my parents would never say it aloud, I was then expected to be in a relationship with another guy from a respected family.
The dreams that formed me weren’t really mine. They never were and never would be. My dreams, my wants, did not matter. What mattered was playing within the lines. Yeah, I mean I did normal teen things like sneaking out and other shit, but anything else and I was screwed. God, imagine if I came home pregnant...my parents would flip. Damn, that would be so worth it to watch. I mean I wouldn’t get pregnant, because I was so not ready to handle a baby, but if I did then I would make sure to videotape my parents’ reactions. I bet if I put it on YouTube, it’d go viral in seconds.
I laughed out loud with that thought, imagining my parents yelling at me with bright red faces. Quickly though my laugh ended, and a sigh escaped my lips. Thinking about this stuff was not good for me. Not good at all. But sometimes, sometimes I need freedom from the things that are holding me tight...because if I don’t get freedom I feel like I’m going to shatter into a million pieces. A million pieces that would never be found again. A tear fell down my cheek, and I wiped it off slowly. I hadn’t cried in forever, there was no use for tears because they were a sign of weakness. To be perfect, you definitely couldn’t be weak. I put the shell I’d stuffed myself in since I was a baby on, and got ready for the quick talk with Duke, then a long nap.
---
My doorbell rang, the buzzing sound repeating until I forced myself off my couch to the open the door. Immediately I was greeted with a warm, male laugh that made my body tingle. “So, you’re Tammy. A pleasure to meet you,” the guy, who I assumed was Duke, murmured.
I nodded in response and held open the door wider. “Aren’t you going to come in?” I answered back sarcastically.
Duke laughed again, and then walked into the light. My mouth immediately dropped, because damn this boy was smoking. He had black spiked up hair, and he was buff. I mean, buff as in muscles twice the size of Luke’s. Along with that, he had this kind of creepy perfectness. There was no flaw in his body, none at all.
“So Tammy, I assume you called me here for one reason. I will quickly resolve that reason, by asking you a simple question. What do you want, more than anything in the world?” Duke asked me, his thin black eyebrows raised.
“I want to have the world at my hand. I want to be able to do anything, be anything,” I immediately answered back, the lie slipping out like it always does. I’d told it millions of times, whenever anyone else had asked me that question. That was what they expected to hear from me, so I gave them what was expected. Normally those who I told that to looked at me with approval or at least maybe jealousy because they knew I’d probably get my dream, but Duke didn’t. He just sat there, studying me as if I were a sick dog.
“No that is a lie, but yet I already know your answer, your real one. Whatever, that is of no point here. I just would like you to know, that you have nothing to worry about. It will make sense soon enough,” he replied, and suddenly I couldn’t move.
As I stood there, still as a statue, Duke started to change. His top canines grew long, and his before grey eyes started to glow a bright red.
Slowly, I felt extreme terror as my brain realized what this person was. Before I could even begin to try to react though, Duke bit into m
e and my world faded into blackness and pain.
Desire of the Soul Page 2
